That Summer
by SugarRune
Summary: Casey finds herself stranded at home during what should be the summer of her life. The only other person around is the last person she wants to be stuck with. But as summer wears on, Casey discovers this just might be the summer of her life after all...
1. Chapter 1: The Summer of My Life

_This is one of the ideas that have lodged into my brain and refuses to leave. This chapter is rather short compared to most chapters I write but it definitely sets up the story. I think I'm going to focus on this one for a while since I really love where I want to go with this but once this is done, I'll get back to focusing on some of the other stories I'm working on. Although, I have decided to just go with whatever ideas pop into my head so I make no promises... Anyway, here's chapter one of _That Summer_ and I hope you enjoy it!_

**_Disclaimer:_** I've actually managed to save up 5 dollars this week but somehow I doubt that'd be enough to buy the rights to the show...so no, not mine

**Chapter One – The Summer of My Life**

_June 20th_

Casey sank low into the couch and against her nature, propped her tired, aching feet up on the coffee table. She was absolutely miserable. Here it was, the final summer before she goes off to college, and where was she? Stuck at home, working a horrible job, her family off enjoying the beautiful European scenery without her, her friends off doing their own pre-college adventures, again, without her. And the worst part of all was that it was all her fault.

Derek's mom, Abby, had invited the McDonald-Venturi clan to come visit her in Europe for the summer. Her job required her to do some traveling over the summer and she thought they might enjoy seeing some of the classic sights of Europe with stops in England, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and finally back to Spain. Surprisingly, Nora and George had immediately agreed. They quickly made arrangements so they could still do some work through video conferences and the internet that would allow them to be off in Europe pretty much for two months. Casey had been absolutely beside herself. She had been dying to see Europe and here was her chance for a European vacation right before college. It was the dream summer.

Or at least it was until her friends brought up the idea of a cross country road trip. Just her, Em, Sheldon, Sam, Trevor, Ralph, Max and a few others. Oh and Derek. But she wasn't going to let that get to her. It was the adventure of a lifetime. Something she'd tell her kids and grandkids about. Suddenly Europe was something she could do almost any summer but who knew when their whole group would get to do something like this again if ever.

And so plans were made, routes marked on the maps, money was saved up. Everything looked set to go. And then came time for graduation. And the group hit its first roadblock, which, looking back on it now, Casey realized she should have seen it as a sign of things to come. Derek had decided his senior year was a year to coast. This resulted in Derek failing a couple tests in his grade 12 chemistry class and failing to turn a couple papers for his grade 12 English class. Thus Derek had failed grade 12 English and chemistry and thus Derek was several credits short of graduating and would need to take summer classes if he wanted to walk across the stage with everyone else. Needless to say, no road trip for Derek. Which also translated into a few people declaring they weren't going if Derek wasn't going. Not that Casey minded since the people who'd dropped out of the trip weren't people she particularly knew or cared about.

The trip was still on and despite the loss of a few people, still seemed on track. Then they hit the next couple of roadblocks. Trevor was accepted into a summer art program he could not pass up. Ralph found out his financial aid wasn't going to cover dorms so he instead found several part time jobs so he could spend his summer working like a dog to pay for it. Sam, realizing it was down to just two couples and him, bowed out and decided to go with his family on their planned vacation after all.

Casey, disappointed the group had shrunk so much, was still rather psyched to be off on a road trip with her best friend and her boyfriend. Until, just days before the trip, after the family had left for a glorious summer in Europe, Max decided it was time to propose. Casey, as touched and as moved as she was, couldn't bring herself to accept. Max ended the relationship and backed out of the trip to lick his wounds and Casey, not wanting to be the sole third wheel and damper on what should be a memorable summer, backed out to let Em and Sheldon have a romantic summer trip for two.

So, not knowing what else to do, Casey found a job working at a chic little clothing boutique and waved off Sheldon and Emily when it was time for them to leave.

And here she was, finishing another grueling 8 hour shift, tired, depressed, bored out of her mind, and lonely. And the only other person left behind was the last person in the world she wanted to be stuck with.

_Slam!_ Casey didn't bother to swivel her head to face the individual who'd rudely shoved open the door and slammed it shut. He let his heavy book bag drop loudly at the base of the stairs and trudged groggily towards the comfy recliner. He sank in and loudly plopped his feet on the table.

"What's for dinner?" he demanded then turned on the TV, effectively blocking her out.

It was going to be a long summer.


	2. Chapter 2: And Then There Were Two

_AN: Hi guys! I know, I'm surprised I'm posting already too...LoL! Anyway, I'm really excited about this story so I hope you guys are enjoying it. I'd also like to take a moment to answer a question I'd gotten a lot from _A Conversation Between Good and Evil. _Yes, I had actually intended to make it a oneshot but seeing as I forgot to mark it as "completed" and because people have expressed an interest in there being more to the story, I actually do have some ideas of future chapters. So yes, there will be more. I'm going to be focusing mainly on this story though, so new chapters of _Good and Evil_ may come slowly so just bear with me. Anyway, here's the second chapter of _That Summer_. I was excited to post so I apologize that it's not as "edited" as it could be. I hope you like it!_

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own it.

**Chapter Two – And Then There Were Two**

_June 25th_

The morning light streamed in through the crack in the curtains and flickered mercilessly across Casey's face, rousing her from a delicious dream in which she had turned down the idea of a cross-country road trip and was instead happily lounging in the sun on the balcony of her family's hotel room in Venice. Or something like that. Casey shut her eyes tight and, in an attempt to fight off waking completely, turned onto her side away from the treacherous light. But it was no good, she was now fully awake and Europe was a world (and a severe lapse in judgment) away.

She stretched out her aching muscles and grabbed her towel before dragging herself into the bathroom for a shower. Seeing as it was Sunday, one of her precious few days off work, everyone she would consider a close, dear friend was off frolicking their summer away and enjoying their youth (with the exception of poor Ralph), and she was not yet desperate enough to go seeking Kendra's company (whom she had heard was back for the summer), she found herself with nothing to do and in no hurry. So she decided to take her time and take a long, refreshing shower.

An hour and a half later, she emerged from her bedroom refreshed, dressed, hair styled, make up on and as she grabbed her purse and slipped on her shoes, she was again brought back to the soul crushing realization that she had absolutely nothing to do.

She slipped her shoes back off and allowed herself to plop down heavily onto the couch. She let her purse fall to the floor as she turned her head to look at the clock on the wall. _Oh_, she thought_, and it was only 9 a.m._

Casey flipped on the TV and allowed her brain to go on auto-pilot, at least until 10 a.m. when she would again resume grumbling about wasting the prime of her youth. She wasn't sure how many infomercials she'd sat through, since the images had gradually begun melding together, before disgruntled thumping came bounding down the stairs finally culminating in something somewhat resembling Derek collapsing onto the recliner.

There was no "Hi" or "Hey" or even a "Good morning," not that she was exactly expecting one. She figured his mood was probably just a little darker than hers and for once, she couldn't blame him. She figured being stuck at home and being forced to go to summer school immediately followed by tutoring sessions Monday through Friday (all pre-arranged by and enforced by threat of military school from George) was probably just a little worse than her situation, though not by much. Though, watching George put his foot down and actually mean it had kind of been awesome to watch. But yeah, she figured Derek was just a little more miserable than her.

She forced herself out of her infomercial stupor and turned towards him.

"Infomercials or cartoons?" she asked, giving him a look that let him know she was serious about turning over TV control to him.

He slowly turned his head towards her and barked out, "Cartoons, now!" before turning his head back to the TV. Casey knew she shouldn't find comfort in knowing that someone, Derek especially, was worse off than she was, but she couldn't help it. And so she had to fight hard to keep the smile off her face as she flipped the TV to the latest adventure of Scooby Doo.

* * *

It was almost noon before Casey finally couldn't take the sitting around any longer. She and Derek had spent a little over an hour watching cartoons and Casey worried her brain was turning to mush. And her stomach was grumbling. Loudly. She heard a sound coming from Derek and realized it was just moments before he too started complaining about hunger.

Not really wanting to become Derek's personal chef for the summer but finding no other way to get food in her stomach at the moment, Casey forced herself up and to the kitchen. She pretended she didn't see Derek's victorious smirk as she did so.

She checked first the fridge then the cupboards and noted with a frown that they'd nearly depleted the food supplies their family had left them with. She could easily whip up some scrambled eggs so she grabbed a couple eggs and placed them on the counter. She wasn't really in the mood to put much effort into cooking so she decided to skip the pancakes and instead pulled out the remains of a loaf of sliced bread and dropped a couple pieces into the toaster before returning to the fridge and pulling out a bag of shredded cheese then searching for some peppers and onions.

She quickly made the omelets and buttered the toast before going ahead and washing the dishes since she didn't feel like arguing with Derek about chores. Casey took a second to note that she must be in dire straights indeed if she couldn't even find the energy to argue with Derek. But she decided to shrug it off and grabbed a couple forks and plates and went back to the living room. Derek barely looked up long enough to grab his plate before returning his attention to Wile E. Coyote.

_It is going to be a VERY long summer_, Casey thought to herself as she slowly ate her food.

* * *

Casey was finishing up her and Derek's dishes. She'd just gotten off the phone with Nora, George and the kids who'd wanted to make sure they hadn't killed each other yet and that Derek had been attending his daily classes and tutoring sessions. George hadn't wanted to run the risk of Derek again not doing his assignments and had had the foresight to have Casey physically drive him to class each day (though dragging Derek out of bed, shoving him into the bathroom, nagging him out of the shower and into somewhat clean clothes, then wrestling him into the car and out of it again once they reached the school took her an extra hour and a half each day) and hired a daily tutor who would pick him up from class and take him to the library to study and do the assigned homework immediately after class let out and then dropped him off at home. To add insult to injury, George (again showing a foresight somewhat out of character for him) had made sure that Derek's tutor weighed 230 pounds, was on a college boxing team, male, straight, and completely impervious to Derek's charm. Casey was almost positive the ad George had placed for a tutor also required the tutor to lack a sense of humor. So Derek was pretty much screwed.

Casey had assured them that yes, Derek was attending his classes. She was deprived an extra hour and a half of sleep everyday because of it, but yes he was getting to school. She also assured them that yes, from how miserable he was, she was sure the tutor was doing his job. Yes, she'd picked up their dry cleaning. Yes, she was checking their mail. No, they hadn't been starving to death. Though, she would probably have to do some grocery shopping today. And no, they hadn't put any hits out on each other yet. At least she hadn't, though she was hard pressed to be positive about Derek.

She hung up happy to have talked to them, but with a renewed sense of misery that she was missing out on a European summer. She stomped back to the living room and threw herself on the couch.

"You missed a call from the fam," she told him.

"Mmm," was his reply. Or at least that's what she took it as.

She watched the anvil fall on Yosemite Sam's head and knew this couldn't continue. At least not today. She sighed as she tried to rouse him again.

"Derek, we need to get some groceries. We're almost out of food."

"Mmm." This time she was sure it was his reply. She had no idea what it meant but at least she hadn't lied when she told their parents that he wasn't dead.

"Fine, I'll go grocery shopping without you," she said, standing and picking up her purse which was still where she'd dropped it earlier. "Just bear in mind that I believe in a well balanced diet. I like oatmeal, tofu, soy, all natural grains and sugar free snacks."

Derek sprinted up the stairs, yelling that he'd be down in ten minutes. She took the time to check her wallet for the cash and ATM card Nora had left her for their food. Edwin had converted their parents to online banking a while back so she didn't have to take care of paying the bills while they were gone. All she had to do was sort their mail so Edwin could reconcile everything when they returned. And keep her and Derek fed and alive. Assured that she still had Nora's ATM card to pay for groceries (she figured she'd keep the cash for pizza deliveries and emergencies) she plopped back onto the couch and waited for Derek.

* * *

"Derek, this isn't the grocery store," Casey observed as Derek pulled into a parking slot at the ice rink.

"That would explain why there's only food at the snack bar or the vending machines," Derek replied sarcastically. He shut off the engine, pocketed the keys and climbed out of the car to grab a bag from the trunk. Casey, whose only other option was to continue sitting in the car like an idiot, quickly followed after him.

Twenty minutes later, she was dressed in full hockey gear and waddling out into the middle of the ice rink.

"Why am I dressed like this?" she demanded as Derek skated around her, getting a feel for the ice, which was unusually empty.

"Because, Spacey, I have been doing nothing but school and homework for over a week now. All my friends are off enjoying their summer, except for Ralph, and I need hockey. I need sports. I need social interaction. And since nonstop chemical formulas and Shakespeare have killed my social life and sucked the soul out of me, that leaves you." He also tossed in a look that said, "Trust me, I'm not any happier about this than you are." But at least he was wise enough to restrain from vocalizing that thought.

"I don't even know how to play hockey," she argued. She looked down at the hockey stick in her hands and wondered how she'd be able to trip Derek with it. She looked up and saw Derek skate backwards around her as he told her to simply follow his lead and came to the conclusion that attempting to trip Derek while he played hockey (i.e. was in his element) was more likely to result in _her_ humiliation and so she tossed the idea.

Derek decided to start by showing her a couple basic moves. Casey winded up on her rear end more times that she'd care to admit and so Derek moved on.

"Okay, Casey. We're going to practice shooting the puck into the goal. Think you can handle that?" he challenged, smirk firmly in place.

"All I have to do is hit this little black disc into that big net?"

"Yup," he answered, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I can do that." Casey moved into position then stared intently at the net then down at the puck. Derek could practically see the gears moving in her head.

She wound up then let her hockey stick smack the puck. It barely made it halfway.

"Why didn't it go anywhere?" Casey lamented.

"Because you swing like a girl." Casey narrowed her eyes at Derek's comment and quickly, albeit awkwardly, waddled over to where her puck had landed. She got into position and before Derek could let out another comment, smacked the puck directly into the net.

There was a moment of silence as both recovered from their shared shock at what just happened. Casey came to first and swiveled around to give Derek a victorious grin.

"Hit like a girl, huh?" she challenged, borrowing Derek's trademark smirk.

Derek was silent a beat longer as he contemplated his next move. Casey worried he would make her repeat the move to show it was simply beginners luck but he surprised her when he simply barked out, "Good, now we can move on."

* * *

An hour and a half later, Derek was practically skipping back towards the car while Casey wondered if her muscles would ever stop hurting.

"Move it Spacey! We have snacks we need to buy," Derek called over his shoulder. Casey simply glared daggers back at him. He'd spent the last hour making her do drills which was then followed by chasing him around the rink for a makeshift one on one match. Not the mention, the padding had smelled and weighed a ton. She could shower for three hours and still feel unclean. As it was she'd showered twice and still felt the grime.

By now, Derek was seated and buckled into the driver's seat. "Case! Hurry up!"

"Der-ek! Every muscle in my body hurts and it's –"

" – all my fault. Blah! Blah! Blah! Get in the car." Casey gingerly seated herself in the front passenger's seat and vowed revenge. And for the first time in over a week, Derek had a good laugh.

--

So that was Chapter 2, I hope you enjoyed it. Be sure to review and let me know what you think!


	3. Chapter 3: When Life Hands You A Lemon

_Author's Note: So here's the third chapter of That Summer. I hope you guys are enjoying the story because I'm absolutely in love with the idea. I love writing Derek and Casey in this situation. My biggest fear though is that you guys will think the story is move too slowly because in this universe, Casey and Derek have never really become friends or anything. They've pretty much maintained the status quo of their relationship over the years. They have gotten older, however, so naturally there has been some growth maturity-wise which explains the lack of major blowouts and fights. However, them becoming friends is important to the story so that needs to happen before any progress romance-wise takes place. Although, it is possible some of the romance and friendship building could overlap. Anyway, I hope you continue to enjoy the story and without further ado, here's chapter three!_

**Disclaimer: I've cried, I've begged, and I've pleaded and it's still not mine :(**

**Chapter Three – When Life Hands You A Lemon…**

_June 30__th_

Casey made her way through the front door, grateful for the first time to be met with the stony silent reminder that her family was off thoroughly enjoying themselves in Europe. The latest e-mail update from Liz had shown the family gallivanting around in beautiful Paris. They'd visited the Eifel Tower, the Louvre, Notre Dame and Casey had been so full of jealousy, she'd nearly lost it and had taken her anger out on the brownie batter she found herself mixing. After sharing the brownies and a half gallon of milk with Derek, commiserating and wallowing in their shared self-pity, she miraculously was able to push aside the envy and be happy her family was having a good time.

She couldn't lie, however, and say it didn't still sting. Everyday she found herself eating dinner in front of the television with Derek was a reminder of what she'd given up. Walking through the doors after a long, grueling day at work and being met with silence or the television blaring was usually the worst part. But today, after the day she'd had, she was actually glad. After spending eight hours helping and waiting on upper middle class princesses who likened themselves to celebutantes like Paris Hilton, and stay at home soccer moms who didn't seem to have anything better to do with themselves but harass poor underpaid sales clerks like Casey, she was almost convinced she no longer liked people. And thus she welcomed the empty embrace of the silence she was met with.

She kicked off her shoes and dropped her purse on the side of the couch before collapsing onto the soft cushions. Since the TV was off, she figured Derek was up in his room napping since his tutor, Ian, would have dropped him off at the latest an hour ago. She checked her watch, it was half past eight. She wondered if Derek had eaten dinner yet.

_Great,_ she chided herself, _I've become his personal chef._ Her stomach grumbled and she realized she hadn't had dinner either. She lifted herself up from the couch with a groan. There was no choice. If she wanted to eat, she'd have to do it herself.

She made her way slowly to the kitchen and peeked into the fridge. She made a grab for some sandwich fixings when she stopped herself and shut the fridge door.

_What the hell were her and Derek doing?_ she asked herself. _Was she really going to sit around and feel miserable for herself for two months? _

"No way," she answered out loud. She turned around and marched up the stairs to Derek's room and threw open the door.

"Derek, get up!" She saw the blankets stir slightly and knew her earlier assumption about Derek napping had been right. She moved to his bed and pulled the blankets off of him, letting them fall to the floor. She sent a thankful prayer heavenward that he was clothed.

"Der-ek! Get up!" He sent her a glare that normally would have had her having second thoughts about this plan. But instead, she soldiered on.

"Der-ek! Get up, get up, get up!" He rolled onto his stomach and covered his head with a pillow. She grabbed the pillow and began hitting him with it.

"Casey, what the hell?" he snarled and he rolled back over and propped himself up to glare at her.

"Oh good, you're up," she chirped, choosing to ignore the death glare he was shooting her. "Put on your shoes and let's go."

"Spacey, I hope that little outing Sunday didn't put you under some false impression that we're friends or anything. Cuz we're not."

"Nope, I still detest your very existence."

"Good. So if you'll just show yourself out, I'll get back to my nap." He reclaimed his pillow and laid back down on the bed.

Seeing no other option, Casey did a few quick stretches then braced herself as she again approached Derek's bed. This time she grabbed one of his legs and proceeded to yank him off the mattress.

Caught off guard and thus unable to react in time, Derek fell onto the blankets Casey had removed earlier. Hard.

"Casey, have you lost your mind?" he screamed and he struggled to get his leg back from her.

"We're rejoining the living Derek," she sputtered in between grunts as she pulled him with all her might towards the door.

"I don't…want…to…" he huffed as he scrambled to get into a position he could use to pull against her.

"You can't honestly expect me to believe you're happy like this. Ow!" She ended with an exclamation as she pulled a little too hard and wound up on her rear end in the hallway. Both remained on the floor, struggling to regain their breaths from the physical exertion.

"Forget happy. I just want to spend my weekend wallowing in misery so come Monday when this nightmare repeats itself, I'll be ready."

Calculating how hard it had been to get him to the doorway of his room, Casey realized that dragging him down the stairs was probably out of the question. Unless she planned on reneging on her promise to Nora and George that they'd both be alive once they came back.

But Casey wasn't done yet. She had one more weapon in her arsenal.

"I'll buy you dinner. Whatever you want." He was silent a long time. Casey feared he wasn't going to go for the bait. But after a few more minutes, he finally did.

"Fine. But you're going to regret this," he agreed reluctantly. She figured it was because his stomach had started growling at the mention of dinner.

"I'll meet you downstairs in ten minutes," he continued.

"Good," Casey said, careful to keep the smile out of her voice. She pushed herself up and moved to head down the stairs.

"And I'm driving," Derek added before slamming his door shut.

Casey hurried down the stairs, this time not bothering to hide her smile.

* * *

Forty-five minutes later, they found themselves seated at an Italian restaurant waiting for their orders. Derek was obliterating the basket of bread and Casey was picking her way through a garden salad.

"You better keep your word about paying for dinner because this place is _pricey_," Derek commented with his mouth full of bread.

"I said I would and I will," Casey said with an eye roll.

"This is a change, why are you rolling in dough all of a sudden?"

"First paycheck."

"I see. And what, you were dying to blow it on me?"

"As if. No, I just realized we were becoming zombies, Derek. I mean, it's Friday night. It wasn't even nine o'clock yet and you were already in bed. And I, I was about to spend my Friday night cooking you dinner."

Derek snickered at the last part of her explanation which caused another eye roll from Casey. "Yeah and here you are spending your hard earned cash buying me Italian food. Definitely a step up."

"Hey, I refuse to spend another Friday night feeling sorry for myself in front of the TV. I'm only buying you dinner because I promised mom and George I'd make sure you were fed."

Their dinners arrived and they lapsed into a not so uncomfortable silence while they ate. Not too long after, the waitress arrived with Derek's dessert and placed the tab on the table as she took away their dinner plates.

"I can't believe you didn't get dessert," Derek told Casey as he shoveled a large piece of chocolate cake into his mouth. "This place has the best dessert."

"Yeah well, I'm still feeling the after effects of the brownies from three nights ago," Casey replied as she checked the tab and calculated the tip. She pulled a couple bills from her wallet and signaled the waitress over.

"Keep the change," Casey told her.

"Thanks hun, I'll be right back with your mints and the receipt."

"Are you sure you don't want a piece of this cake?" Derek asked again. Casey looked up and saw him shovel another large piece into his mouth.

"Yeah, I'll pass," she told him as her lips pursed a bit at the sight.

"Suit yourself." And with that, Derek shoved the last piece into his mouth. He swiped at his mouth with the napkin then finished Casey's soda to swallow down the cake.

The waitress returned with the receipt and their mints.

"Here you go," she said as she placed the items on the table and scooped up the remaining dishes.

"Your boyfriend has a good appetite," she said to Casey with a conspiratorial wink. "That's usually a good sign he's a keeper."

Derek did a spit take into the glass of water he'd been taking a drink from while Casey's eyes bugged out of their sockets.

They both quickly spoke over each other in denial.

"Eww, he's so not my boyfriend," Casey told the waitress emphatically.

"She is so not my girlfriend," Derek growled.

"Hehe, I get it. First date. You kids are so adorable," she clucked as she took the dishes away.

They eyed each other warily as the waitress made her retreat.

"Well, we should probably –" Casey began as she gathered her purse and a mint.

"Yeah, we probably should," Derek said standing and grabbing his own mint.

Casey paused momentarily at the door and glanced at the table to make sure she hadn't left anything behind. She caught the eye of their waitress who gave her an encouraging wink. Quickly, she spun on her heals and ran after Derek who lamented about what was taking her so long.

* * *

Casey looked around as Derek pulled into a parking slot. For the second time in less than a week, she had no idea where Derek had taken her.

"Uh, Derek, where are we?" she asked as she released her seatbelt.

"You'll see. Come on," he ordered as he hopped out of the car. She followed after him as he locked the doors and headed around to the entrance of the building.

"Derek, are you sure this place is safe?" she asked in hushed tones.

"What? Princess scared she's going to get mugged?" he teased.

"I didn't say that," she argued indignantly. He simply snickered in response.

"Relax, it's a revival movie theater," he said as the rounded the corner. The entrance was now visible and Casey could see that Derek was telling the truth.

"Oh wow, I've never been here before," she told him honestly.

"I come here sometimes to see some of the classics," he said over his shoulder as he moved towards the ticket window. Casey knew Derek was a movie buff, but the fact he actually went to a place like this to watch classic movies surprised her. She hurried after him to the ticket window.

"So what's showing?" she asked as glanced up to see the showtimes.

He glanced down at his watch. "We're just in time for the beginning of the double feature special."

"Sounds good to me," she agreed. She figured he'd know better about what was good to watch. They moved to the open window to buy their tickets and Casey reached for her wallet. Derek stopped her and took out his own.

"Derek?" she asked in confusion.

"You paid for dinner. This was my idea so I pay," he said by way of explanation. The clerk handed him his change and their tickets and Derek handed one to Casey.

"Thanks," she said with a smile as they headed into the theater.

"But remember, this by no way –"

" – means we're friends. I know, I know," she finished for him.

"Good, just so we're clear." They made their way to the ticket taker who pointed them towards the right screening room.

"Derek, what's the double feature anyway?" she asked as they headed in to find seats just in time for the lights to start dimming. Derek waited until they were seated and the room had darkened completely before answering her question.

"Oh, uh, I think tonight is horror night," he answered smoothly. "Hope you sleep well tonight, Case."

"DER-EK!" Even in the dark, Casey knew that infuriating smirk was on his lips. She would get him back, she vowed to herself. One way or another, she would get him back.

Just then, the swamp creature made a surprise appearance on the screen eliciting a scream from Casey. The sound of Derek's laughter echoed throughout the empty theater.

--

_So that was chapter three. How was it? I was in a hurry to post it as soon as I finished it so let me know if there are any glaring typos or grammar errors. As always, I'd appreciate any reviews to let me know you guys are enjoying the story._


	4. Chapter 4: You Make Lemonade

_Author's Note: I want to thank everyone who's reviewed so far. You guys definitely make my day and encourge me to keep writing. I hope you guys are liking the story so far. Without further ado, here's chapter 4!_

**Disclaimer:**I'm starting to believe that I will never own Life With Derek :(

**Chapter Four: …You Make Lemonade**

_July 5__th_

"Space-yyy! Why are we grocery shopping? I thought the goal was to 'join the living.' Believe me, anyone doing any kind of grocery shopping at our age isn't succeeding at the 'living' part," Derek whined as they made their way through the bread aisle.

"Well, I'm grocery shopping because apparently you have five stomachs and ate all the food we got last time already. And I got coerced into promising to keep you fed and alive this summer." She paused and picked up a loaf of white without crusts and a loaf of whole grain wheat. She looked over here shoulder to where Derek was holding up a box of Ho-Hos and giving her sad puppy dog eyes. "I have no idea why you're here."

He took her rolled eyes to assume it was okay to drop the snack cakes into the shopping cart. "I'm here to make sure you step outside the narrow box you live in and grab more than just rabbit food."

"Yeah, remind me to thank you again for all your help last time. I'm sure that clerk appreciated you checking her butt out." She paused for dramatic effect. "I know I sure appreciated your contribution. I had to do the entire shopping list and you simply added ten boxes of poptarts to the shopping cart."

"I'll have you know," Derek began as he picked up a box of poptarts, "these have fruit in them. Therefore, technically I took care of the fruit part of the list."

At her disbelieving expression, Derek turned the box around so the illustration was facing her and shoved it towards her face. "Look at the pictures, those are strawberry poptarts. They're made with strawberries."

"Please," she replied, swatting his hand away. "I doubt the filling in those poptarts are made with anything that ever remotely resembled a real strawberry."

"Real or not, it's still strawberry and it still tastes damn good." He dropped another two boxes into the shopping cart for emphasis.

"Okay, moving on," Casey said as she moved the cart to the canned soup and vegetable aisle to get the next items on her list.

* * *

Half an hour later, Casey made her way to the dairy aisle. She was down to the last three items on her shopping list: milk, cheese, and butter. She'd long lost track of Derek and while she was annoyed that she'd gotten stuck doing all the work (again), she wasn't upset that without him and their bickering, this had taken half the time it had last time.

She quickly sorted through the gallons of milk looking for the latest expiration date, grabbed a small block of all natural organic cheddar, picked out an all natural preservative free container of butter then proceeded to locate the missing thorn in her side so they could check out and head home.

She was making a turn into the chip aisle when she heard the sound of a very familiar voice. She stopped to listen.

"Well, you know, I've always been a fan of redheads." The redhead giggled and Casey fought the urge to gag. Normally she would have interrupted him just for the sheer joy of it, but she decided to wait and see if he did anything embarrassing she'd be able to use later.

"Really, Derek?" the redhead asked coyly.

"Of course. Set against those fantastic green eyes, it makes you look like a goddess." The "goddess" giggled again.

"If you felt that way, why didn't you ever ask me out? Every time your school played against mine, I was always hoping you'd ask me out."

"Well, Theresa, I was just too shy." _Oh please_, Casey thought to herself.

"Shy? I never heard about the Great Derek Venturi being shy."

"Yes, it's true. I mean, look at you. Gorgeous, a cheerleader. I just assumed you only went out with older guys." Casey rolled her eyes so far back she was afraid they would get stuck.

"Please tell me she doesn't fall for that load of BS," she muttered to herself.

"Me? Older guys?" She let out a half giggle. "Derek, you're making me blush."

"So does this mean you'll give me your number?" Derek smarmed.

"That depends, what will you give me to prove you'll call?" Casey could practically hear the practiced pout in her voice as an acidic taste began to creep into her throat.

"Well, I suppose I could –" That did it. Casey, afraid she could no longer keep down her gag reflex, decided to put an end to the disgusting display.

"Oh, Derek," she announced brightly, revealing herself from around the corner. "There you are. I've been looking all over for you. Who's your friend?"

"Casey," Derek ground out.

"Casey?" Theresa repeatedly angrily.

"That's my name," Casey answered, smiling at Derek's discomfort. To Theresa, she added, "And you are?"

"Leaving," she answered, giving them both a dirty look as she spun on her heels and teetered off.

"Theresa! Wait! You don't understand," Derek called to her retreating form. As Casey stood laughing at his expense, Derek slowly turned his death glare on her.

"Casey, why would you do that?" he demanded through clenched teeth.

"Because I knew it would be worth it to see that look on your face," she answered before launching into another round of laughter.

"You think that was funny?"

"Yes," she answered simply.

As he continued to glare at her, she regained her composure and retrieved their shopping cart.

"Come on, stop pretending like you're really upset," she told him as they made their way to the checkout stands. "It's not like you would have called her anyway."

"How do you know that? I might have," he said defensively which made Casey snort.

"Please, you never even called the girl from last time."

"Fine, maybe I wouldn't have called her," he admitted. "But I was doing it just to make sure I stayed sharp."

"Stayed sharp?" she repeated skeptically.

"Yes. Because once this whole summer school mess is over and done with and I'm not too depressed when I get home from the library to do anything but watch TV and make you cook me dinner, I am getting my life back."

At the part of his statement about her cooking him dinner, any guilt Casey had begun to feel for what she'd done, flew out the proverbial window and she reminded herself that the little stunt she'd pulled only paid him back for the hockey incident. She'd need to come up with a good and equal plan to pay him back for the horror shows. As her mind formulated a plan, she was careful to keep the smile off her face for fear of tipping him off.

* * *

_July 6__th_

"Der-ek! Why the arcade?" Casey whined.

"Because," Derek answered. "Because it was _your_ idea to 'rejoin the living' and as I argued yesterday, grocery shopping doesn't count as 'living.'"

"It needed to be done. You ate all our food," she reminded him.

"Fine, so today, after hours of stupid poems and chemical equations, I need some fun." Casey took in the atmosphere of the arcade Derek had dragged her to and it did not look like fun to her.

"Derek, these all look violent or are for kids Marti's age."

"They have the newest Babe Raider game," he taunted.

"They have 'Revenge of the Ancient Cyborg?'" Casey demanded, her mood suddenly doing a 180 and her eyes glinting with excitement at the idea of taking down ancient machinery hell-bent on stealing lost artifacts.

"They have the special edition director's cut with the hidden bonus levels," Derek replied smoothly. Casey smiled with delight at his comment.

"Get out of my way," she demanded, already taking out her wallet and heading to the change machine. She paused briefly to hand Derek several bills. "Order me a rootbeer float and tell them to keep them coming. I'm going to get quarters. Lots and lots of quarters."

* * *

Derek shivered a little in fear as he watched her shove her way to the front of the line for the quarter machine. He turned and headed towards to the snack bar to place Casey's order. He chatted up a couple girls as he waited his turn for the order window and was surprised to see Ralph at the register.

"Ralph?" he said when he made it to the front of the line.

"Derek? Dude, how's it going?"

"Terrible," he complained. "My dad totally went through with his threat about the daily tutoring. "

"Sucks, man," Ralph said, sympathizing.

"And it's totally killed my social life. I'm so exhausted and depressed everyday."

"I hear you man. Same here. I'm working day and night to save up for room and board."

"How's that going?"

"If I keep it up, I should have enough in time for school to start."

"That's awesome man because it just won't be right without you there with me and Sam."

"I know, D. But you gotta make sure you pass those classes."

"I'm trying, bro. Why do you think I have no life?" Ralph laughed at the anguish coming from his friend.

"Well, you're here tonight and I saw you chatting up the ladies."

"Not the same, just making sure to keep my skills sharp."

"Yeah, I get it. I make sure to keep my line fresh too. I say it every chance I get." Derek politely kept his opinion about Ralph's 'shoe line' to himself. If his friend wanted to believe it worked, who was he to tell him otherwise?

"So, if you're not here scamming on babes, who are you here with?" Ralph asked.

"That's the sad part. I'm here with Casey." He shuddered with disgust at her name.

"Casey? At the arcade?" Ralph said incredulously. "What is wrong with that picture?"

"She's over at the new Babe Raider game."

"Ohhh, I see." Ralph nodded approvingly. "Casey and Babe Raider. Now that brings back some good memories."

Derek threw him a look. "Ralph! Ew! That's my step-sister."

"I thought you admitted the 'Male Code' was fake."

"Why?" Derek asked suspiciously.

"Well, Casey is pretty cute," he said as he looked over to where she was annihilating the current Top Score and Derek covered his ears and began chanting "La La La La, I can't hear you!"

"Derek. Derek! I'm kidding, man." Ralph let out a laugh at his friend's discomfort.

"Whatever. Look, what time are you getting off? We're heading for pizza when we're done. You should join us."

Ralph checked his watch. "I should be done in about an hour."

"Okay, come find us when you're done."

"Yeah, I will. Oh uhh…did you want to order anything?" Ralph asked sheepishly, remembering where he was.

"Oh, that's right." He slapped down the bills Casey had given him earlier. "Casey wants rootbeer floats."

Ralph looked at the money Derek had put down. "That's way more than a rootbeer float costs."

"Yeah, I know. She wants them to keep on coming." They both looked over to where Casey was doing a victory dance as her opponent, a twelve year old boy, lost and began to cry.

"Scary," Ralph said aloud.

"Yeah. She is."

"I'll go make those floats."

"Thanks man," Derek said and headed back to make the kid stop crying.

* * *

"Casey, I am so bringing you down," Derek announced as they entered their second half hour of playing. He watched Casey toss back a rootbeer float and slam her glass down as a signal for another one to be brought over.

"Just try it, Venturi," she challenged back at him.

Their trash talking and constant changing of the top score attracted a crowd around them that egged them on.

"Come on, Casey! Show him what you're made of," called out one of her fans.

"I don't think so," one of Derek's fans rebutted. "Derek is going to wipe the floor with her."

"Hear that, Space Case?" Derek ribbed with a smirk. "I'm going to wipe the floor with you."

"Good luck with that. I just found my third bonus chamber and you still haven't found one."

Casey's fans cheered as her score skyrocketed past Derek's with her new discovery. Not one to be shown up by anyone, let alone Casey, Derek quickly pressed the buttons in a sequence he'd read about in a magazine and snickered when Casey let out a disbelieving squeal.

"What happened to my special weapon? I just upgraded to the Relic Slayer 2000. It took me the last twenty minutes to find the last piece to trade in for the Incan Curse bullets."

"Aww, it went back to the one you started with at the beginning of the game. Tough luck Casey," Derek mocked.

"I don't understand. I didn't do anything or pick up –" her voice trailed off as she happened to glance at Derek's screen and got a good look at the weapon his character was now holding. Her Relic Slayer 2000 with Incan Curse bullets.

"Der-ek!" she screamed. "You stole my weapon. You're such a lying, cheating, scheming, slimeball."

"You snooze, you lose, Case. Looks like your lead isn't going to hold up for much longer." A victory tune sounded from his screen. "And what's this? The Solomon Room bonus chamber. Must be my lucky day."

Casey ignored him and returned her focus to her own game. She guided Babe Raider through a series of tunnels, careful to keep tabs on Derek's character's location every few minutes. She had Babe Raider enter the Forbidden Temple of Hades and after entering the right button combination to activate the Unspoken Rites action sequence, found herself unable to keep her grin in check. She'd found it. The weapon Babe Raider fans the world over still weren't entirely sure whether or not had actually been included in the final edit of the Director's Cut of the game. The Apocalypse Magnum.

"Oh Derek?" she sing-songed.

"What?" he grunted as his fans held their breaths while his character made a narrow escape out of a pit of King Cobras.

"I'll be taking that lead back now."

"And how do you plan on doing that? Unless you've already forgotten, I have the Relic Slayer now and the code can only be used once every gameplay. Unless of course you're willing to reset and start from scratch."

"Oh you can keep the Relic Slayer," she said smugly.

"Why is that?" She knew she'd gotten his curiosity.

"Because," she said with a slow smile forming on her lips, "I found Apocalypse and like you said, unless we reset the code can't be used again so I guess you're stuck with the Relic Slayer, and I'm stuck with this." And with that she brought up the item screen to equip her newfound weapon as her supporters erupted into a round of applause. Derek snapped his focus to her screen to see the legendary weapon for himself and to his horror her screen now looked horribly familiar.

"Oh crap," Derek muttered just in time to see Casey's character appear on his own screen and raise her weapon.

"Oh yes," Casey agreed giddily as she poised her finger over the fire button.

"Casey, you wouldn't," he tried weakly.

"Yes, I would," she retorted and blasted his character away. "Game over Derek."

While her side cheered her victory, no one cheered louder than Casey.

* * *

Ralph looked awkwardly between his two dinner companions. Casey was positively beaming with happiness and Derek was sulking.

"Get over it, D. You knew she was a Babe Raider maniac. She even beat Sam's score. Sam! And that score had been up since the beginning of summer."

"Yeah, Derek," she added. "It's just a silly game. If it bothers you that much, I'll let you win next time."

Derek narrowed his eyes at her as he picked up another slice of pizza and shoved it into his mouth. Casey made a face and rolled her eyes at his childish display.

"If it was 'just a game' then why did you insist we all take a picture of you, your score and your character holding the Apocalypse?" Derek accused.

"Oh that?" she asked nervously. "It was just, you know, to commemorate the moment."

"Really?" Derek didn't believe her for a second. She was tapping her nails on the table indicating that she was uneasy and most likely lying through her teeth.

"Yup," she answered too cheerily as she sipped on her soda.

"Then why did you tell me you needed to save the picture to a disc so you could e-mail it to the Babe Raider forum and shove it in BabeFan437's face?" Ralph asked innocently.

"That's enough Ralph," she said quickly, avoiding Derek's knowing smirk.

"So, how are your summer jobs going, Ralph?" she asked to change the topic.

"Okay, I guess," he answered, easily going along with the topic change. "The job at the arcade isn't too bad and the job at Smelly Nelly's brings in some pretty good tips. But I will definitely be glad once it's all over."

"Well, if you need anything, just remember we're here for you," she told him.

"Thanks, guys. But I think just hanging with you guys once in a while will definitely be enough to make the summer suck less."

"Yes, definitely. And since we've decided to 'rejoin the living' we'll have to do it more often."

"Sure, as long as it's not expensive. I still have a long way to go."

"No problem, Ralphie."

The group finished off the pizza but were reluctant to head home yet. They ordered another pitcher of sodas and decided to keep talking.

"So, D, is your tutor really a sumo wrestler?" Ralph asked.

"He told you his tutor was a sumo wrestler?" Casey exclaimed.

"He might as well be," Derek insisted. "The guy is like seven feet tall and the size of a door."

"Please, he's only complaining because this tutor actually makes him do his work and doesn't give in to his manipulations or bribes."

"Wow, I didn't think your dad actually had it in him," Ralph confessed.

"Believe me, neither did I."

"What about you, Case? I heard about Max."

"Yeah, I can't believe you turned him down. I thought that was the kind of romantic moment you lived for," Derek said.

Casey let out a heavy sigh.

"You're not about to cry, are you?" Derek asked, slightly afraid it was the case.

"No, I'm not going to cry." She shot him a look. "It just didn't feel right. I mean, we just got out of high school. Getting married wasn't even on my mind yet. I just wanted to go on the romantic road trip. And then when he proposed so suddenly, I was caught off guard and didn't have time to think of a better answer other than just 'No.' I didn't think he'd break up with me though."

"Case, can you blame the guy?"

"Der-ek!"

"What? I'm being honest here. Asking a girl out is already a risk. Asking a girl to marry you? I have to hand it him, that was a huge leap he was taking."

"Yeah, Case. I gotta agree with D. It not only broke his heart, it broke his ego."

Casey let out a groan as she put her head on the table. "Do you think I should have said yes?"

"Uh, D, I'll let you take that one."

"Fine. No."

Casey sat up and raised an eyebrow at Derek. "No? That's all you have to say?"

"It's simple. You're only eighteen, you just graduated from high school, you're starting college in the fall, it takes you an hour to decide on how to do your hair everyday and you're working at some snooty clothes boutique. How, from all that, would you even think you might be ready to get married? Besides, you just said it didn't feel right. You gotta go with your instincts."

Ralph and Casey sat dumbstruck staring at Derek.

"What?" he demanded defensively.

"Oh my god, that was actually good," Casey said appreciatively.

"D, I'm speechless," Ralph added.

"Hey, I'm not stupid."

"No, you're not," Casey agreed.

"Just lazy as hell," Ralph joked, breaking the uneasiness that had crept up on them and returned them to the shared camaraderie of making the most of a summer that had gone all wrong.

* * *

_July 7__th_

"I don't trust you," Derek stated flatly and refused to move. "You're up to something."

"Der-ek! I already bought the tickets," she argued as she managed to shove him into the theater.

"Yeah, because you told me this was a burlesque show," he reasoned. He took a look at the crowd around them as she ushered them into their seats. "And now, I'm thinking you took advantage of my half-sleep state."

"Derek, I swear I'm not lying. It's going to be chock full of girls parading around in their underwear," she said matter-of-factly. Derek eyed her warily. He didn't notice any of her usual tells but she was definitely hiding something.

"Okay, so then why are you so eager to see it? It's one of your artsy things, isn't it? It'll be like one second of a girl in her underwear and the rest will be a bunch of weird looking people claiming they can fly and singing some weird opera music. I'm going home," he announced, getting up from his seat. "You can take a cab."

She reached up and pulled him back into his seat.

"Sit down and stay," she ordered. He crossed his arms and grumbled under his breath until she leaned over and tapped on the shoulder of an older gentleman seated in front of them.

"Excuse me sir," she said when he turned around. "But will you please tell my step-brother that this is a burlesque show?"

"Well, yes, I suppose you can call it that," he affirmed.

"Really? Lingerie, sexy dancing and all that?" Derek asked, his eyebrows raised.

"Oh yes, pretty much what the show is centered around."

"Thank you for clearing that up, Sir," Casey politely thanked him and the gentleman returned his attention to his companions.

"Well?" Casey asked, quite pleased with herself.

"Okay, fine," Derek acceded. A moment later, a strange thought occurred to him.

"Why do _you_ want to see this?"

"I heard the musical score was phenomenal," she answered vaguely.

"Casey, is there something you're not telling the family?"

"What?"

"About why you always find ways to sabotage your relationships?"

"Huh?" she asked, now lost.

"Are you eager to watch the burlesque dancers too? Are we on the _same team_?" he asked, giving her a slow wink.

"Ew! Der-ek!" she yelped, understanding his implications. "No. I'm here purely for cultural purposes."

"Okay, whatever you say, Case." He decided that teasing her was truly one of the finer joys in his life.

"Just sit back and enjoy the show, Derek," she said, now eager for it to begin. A moment later, the lights dimmed and the curtains rose.

"Case, what's this show called, anyway?"

"Hmmm, do you remember a little movie called 'Moulin Rouge?'" she said, grinning in the dark.

"Moulin Rouge? CASEY!" She relished in his anger.

"Shhh. Do be quiet Derek. And you should try to enjoy the show." Casey cheered as the performers started the first act. _Now_, she decided, _they were even_. And as she sat back and enjoyed the romance made famous by Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor, she focused on the fact that she was having fun and quickly pushed aside the little detail that she was having fun…with Derek.

--

_I hope you guys enjoyed Chapter 4. I know I had fun writing it. If you haven't checked out some of my other stories already, I hope you guys do. As always, any reviews would be much appreciated!_

_- SugarRune_


	5. Chapter 5: Getting Back On The Horse

_Author's Note: Hi guys! Thank you so much for all your kind reviews. I'm so pleased with the response it's been getting because I'm so excited by the story and it's only going to get more exciting with the coming chapters. So here's chapter 05!_

**Disclaimer: No, I still don't own it**

**Chapter Five: Getting Back On The Horse**

_July 10__th_

Derek narrowed his eyes at his enemy and did a quick fake to the left before weaving to the right and sinking a hook shot for the win. He immediately began to do a victory celebration for the nonexistent crowd and rub the loss in the face of his opponent.

"Yeah, yeah, bravo. You beat someone who doesn't even know how to play. You must be so proud," Casey told him with some mock applause before she walked over and picked up the forgotten basketball.

"Take your shots where you can, Case. I win," he said in reply, a victorious grin on his lips.

"Whatever. Can we stop now?" Casey placed the ball on the ground and perched on it, using it as a makeshift seat.

"Stop? I'm just getting warmed up."

"Yeah, not to mention ripe," Casey observed as she made a show of pinching her nose. In retaliation, Derek swooped in behind her and pulled the ball out from under her, sending her tumbling onto the pavement.

"Just admit it, you're a sore loser." He added insult to injury by sinking in three free throws in a row. "Don't blame me for your lack of athleticism."

"Lack of athleticism?" she squealed incredulously. "May I remind you who, between the two of us, has over ten years of dance training?"

"Dance? You're going to compare your prissy prancing around with my sports training?"

"Please, a bunch of sweaty guys rubbing up against each other doesn't have me picturing athletic prowess. It has me thinking all your macho talk about babes and boobs is nothing more than overcompensation."

"You mean like you 'loving the musical score' at the 'burlesque' show?" He did an exaggerated eyebrow wagging just because he knew it bugged her.

Casey crossed her arms in irritation. "Der-ek! You are such a pig!"

"And you are such a prissy, uptight Princess."

"You know, for not being able to stand each other, you two sure do spend a lot of time together," observed a third voice joining them.

"Not by choice," Casey quickly insisted.

"I second that," Derek added.

"Then, why are you two here together?" Ralph asked innocently as he rebounded the basketball and shot a free throw. They rapidly stumbled over each other, each offering a different explanation. According to Casey, she was coerced and forcibly dragged there only to be endlessly mocked by Derek for his own twisted amusement. According to Derek, it was charity. She had been sad, pathetic and alone, begging him for his company and he felt sorry for her.

"As you can see, he's clearly delusional," Casey concluded. Ralph just laughed at the two of them.

"Why don't you just admit you like hanging with each other? Really, it's not a big deal. We all pretty much hung out together senior year anyway and the rest of us already thought you'd become friends."

"Ralphie, bite your tongue," Derek admonished.

"Whatever," Ralph conceded. "Are you going to play me or what?"

"Gladly," Derek said gratefully. "After destroying Klutzilla, playing against someone with some skill would be nice."

"Fine, you take out," Ralph said and they both got in position as Casey moved to the sidelines.

"Space Case, take notes," Derek ordered. "This is what a game of basketball should look like."

"Derek, if I wanted to watch a monkey jump around, I'd go to the zoo," she retorted.

He simply smirked and went to work on beating Ralph. Best buds or not, Derek Venturi didn't lose. The other day with Babe Raider simply didn't count.

* * *

Forty minutes later, Derek and Ralph had met a couple guys and were playing a game of two on two. Casey had needed to head back home to shower and get ready for a closing shift at the boutique.

"Ralph, the big guy favors his right so I need you to fake right then go left for the shot. Think you can do that?" Derek asked.

"Of course, D. I got this," Ralph answered smugly.

"Okay then, let's crush 'em," Derek said confidently as they swaggered back into position.

In the end, they managed to squeak by with 2 two points for the win.

"Hey, nice game," Ralph said sportingly.

"Yeah, you've got a killer hook shot. Anytime you guys want a rematch, you know where to find us," Derek added. Their opponents said their goodbyes and Ralph and Derek gathered up their things.

"Casey's closing tonight, right?" Ralph asked as they headed out of the park.

"Yeah. Usually there's something in the ice box I can heat up, but tonight I'm thinking something greasy, cheesy and comes with a side of fries."

"See, now that sounds good. I think I'll join you," Ralph said amiably.

"Hey, maybe if you use your line on our waitress, she'll add a couple free shakes," Derek teased.

"Mock all you like, but we'll see who's laughing once I get my shake."

"Oh is that a challenge? It's on!"

"Sure thing," Ralph challenged back, giving his best impersonation of Derek's smirk.

* * *

Fate had decided to smile down on them and their waitress was definitely female and more importantly, was actually rather cute. To his credit, Ralph was on his 'A' game that day but as luck would have it, Ellen (their waitress), only had eyes for Derek. It struck Ralph as odd that _he_ had had to be the one to point it out to him.

"D, man, that girl is seriously crushing on you," Ralph said, giving him a knowing smirk.

"Huh?" Derek asked, just barely paying attention as his focus was on the dessert menu and whether or not he was still happy with his order of chocolate cake now that he'd seen a picture of the fudge brownie.

"Uhh, earth to Derek. Our seriously cute waitress was seriously giving you some signals."

"Oh man, you are so out of it," he continued since Derek still seemed focused on the dessert menu. "I wish Sam was here to see this."

"What?" Derek demanded defensively, finally deciding he was okay with the cake after all. "What are you going on about?"

"Our hot waitress? You know the blonde who was practically begging you to ask her out?"

"Oh her? She was all right."

"All right?" Ralph exclaimed. "She was smoking. I'm so jealous of you right now."

"Whoa, down boy," he joked. "If you want her, Ralphie, be my guest."

"Are you kidding me? Did you not see me practically throw myself at her? Nuh-uh, she is all about the Venturi loving."

"I dunno, Ralphie," Derek hesitated.

"D, do not hold back on my account. You should definitely make your move."

"Eh, I don't know." He played with the straw in his soda as he thought it over.

"What would Casey say?" Ralph challenged.

"Casey? What does she have to do about this?"

"Didn't she say you guys had decided to 'rejoin the living?' Turning your back on a cute waitress doesn't seem like living to me." Derek rolled his eyes and threw the wadded up straw sleeve at him which Ralph quickly threw back.

"Sorry, am I interrupting your little game?" asked the blonde waitress in question as she put down their desserts and slid Derek the tab.

Derek got in a last shot at Ralph before moving his hand to grab the tab. He paused with his hand over it and looked up at Ellen through his lashes, giving a lazy, half-sleep effect.

"Wait a sec. Ellen, is it?" he asked, carefully reading her nametag despite the fact that he already knew her name.

"Yeah?" she said, being deliberately coy.

"I was wondering if you'd like to join me for a movie or something tomorrow?"

She smiled a slow practiced smile and said, "I'd love to. My number's on the tab. Call me later and we'll talk details." Then she flipped her golden locks over her shoulder and sauntered away.

Ralph leaned over to watch her retreat before returning his attention back to Derek.

"Oh man, that was hot. You the man, D!" Ralph praised. "Is her number really on the tab?"

Derek smirked and flipped over the tab to reveal a phone number written in purple ink and signed with a lipstick kiss.

"Right now, I'm so proud to be your best friend," Ralph told him wholeheartedly.

Derek chuckled then added, "Dude, do you know how long it's been since I've been on a date? Hope I haven't lost it."

Ralph regarded the lipstick and the phone number on their tab. "Eh, I don't think you need to worry about that."

Derek smirked and pocketed the tab as they both burst out laughing then refocused on their desserts.

* * *

_July 11__th_

Casey was miserable. Two of the snotty girls she worked with had decided to make it their personal mission to make any time she spent at work hell on earth. Everyday she came in, they seemed to find something else to hold against her. First had been when she'd been chosen to work the cash registrar while they'd been relegated to restocking inventory. The second time had been when some cute guy whose attention they'd been trying to get, spent his entire time up at the cash register hitting on Casey. It didn't matter to them that Casey had barely noticed since at the time she'd still been hurting from her breakup with Max.

As a result, they'd tried spreading rumors about her at work (which the others were mostly kind enough to ignore), they'd dumped out all her soda from the break room fridge, took the batteries out of her headset so she'd gone almost her entire shift not aware that the manager had been trying to summon her, made catty comments every time she entered the room, and ignored her calls for price checks. Casey had tried ignoring it and then tried going to the manager but the manager was the aging former beauty queen type and seemed to care too much about herself to still have room to care about others and so Casey was back to trying to ignore it.

Today, they were mad because again a cute guy had come into the store and rebuffed them. But now he was up at the register and trying hard to chat Casey up. And now, Casey was over Max.

"So, what's your name?" the guy asked, trying to sound casual as Casey removed the hangars from the clothes he'd selected.

"Casey," she said, praying she wasn't blushing as badly as she suspected she was.

"Casey," he repeated. "I like it. I'm Brandon."

Casey let out a little laugh. "Thanks. I like Brandon too." He smiled and thanked her for the compliment.

"Are you new here?" he asked, the smile still on his face. "Because I've shopped here before and I don't think I've ever seen you."

"Uh, yeah. Just for the summer. I just started a few weeks ago," she answered as she quickly rang up his purchases. He handed her his money and his smile grew as their fingers briefly touched during the exchange.

"I guess this summer I'm simply going to have to shop here more often," he told her, giving her an appreciative look. This time, Casey was sure she was blushing like crazy.

"Hey," he said as he leaned forward a little on the counter, giving her conversation a little more intimacy. "I don't want to seem too forward but a friend of mine is throwing this party tonight and I was wondering if you'd want to go with me."

Casey's mind went blank. She didn't know what to do. Was she ready to be dating again? Was this date? What if it wasn't and he was just inviting random girls to the party? What about Derek? They'd been hanging out most evenings and she didn't want to just bail on him. She decided to go with her instincts.

"Umm… sounds like fun but I'm not sure. I get off pretty late."

"Oh of course. No problem," he answered smoothly and leaned forward even more to pull out some register tape and a pen. Casey was too stunned to stop him. "Let me write down the address and my phone number and if you happen to get off early, you can stop by. And if you need directions, you can call me."

"Thanks," she said, taking the paper and pen from him. He grabbed his shopping bag and started to leave but then paused and turned back to her.

"Hey, Casey."

"Yeah?"

"Even if you don't make it tonight, you should still call me." He threw her a lopsided grin, did an about-face and headed out of the store. Casey wondered briefly about why she felt guilty.

* * *

Casey got off work at precisely six o'clock that evening and was home by six-thirty. She locked the front door behind her and wandered into the living room surprised not to see Derek parked in front of the TV waiting for her to make dinner.

"Derek?" she called out. Not hearing any response, she moved to the kitchen.

"Derek?" she tried again. She'd seen the Prince and she saw all the keys except hers still on the hooks so she knew he hadn't gone anywhere.

Alarmed that he might have relapsed into depression, she ran up the stairs screaming his name like the old days. "DER-EK!"

She ran down the hall towards his room, luckily stopping just short of the bathroom door swinging open into her face.

"Whoa, Derek, you almost hit me," she complained.

"Oops, sorry Case. What was with all the yelling?" he asked as he emerged from the bathroom.

"Nothing," she said, noticing his appearance. "Why are you all dressed up?"

"Like it?" he asked then did a spin to show her the rest of the outfit. "Am I hot or what?"

Casey raised an eyebrow at him, "Yeah, okay, Zoolander. What's up with the male vogue?"

He smirked smugly at her and turned his back to her as he headed into his room to finish getting ready. She trailed after him as he answered her.

"I'll have you know, I'm embracing your 'Rejoining the Living' mantra," he said, digging through his closet for a jacket to complete the look. "I have a date."

"A date?" Casey managed to repeat. She was glad his back was to her because she distinctly felt the color drain from her face.

"Yeah. I met her yesterday when me and Ralph grabbed something to eat after basketball. Anyway, I'm taking her to a movie, grab some dinner and then pull out the old Derek moves." He found the jacket he was looking for and quickly pulled it out.

"Oh," was all she could say.

He pulled on the jacket then whirled around to show her the finished look. "What do you think?"

From the way he'd popped the collar and was now leering at himself in the mirror, she didn't think a response was actually necessary so she didn't give him one.

_Get a grip, Case_, she ordered herself. _What is this horrible feeling?"_

"Anyway, you staying in tonight?" This, she figured, required a response. And from the look he was giving her when she lifted her head up, she knew that he just assumed that she in fact would be. She suddenly wanted to prove him wrong.

"No. Actually," she answered defiantly, tilting her chin up just slightly as she met his challenge and tried to come up with something. "That's why I was looking for you."

This time, he was raising an eyebrow at her and she knew it was because he didn't believe her.

"Really?" he asked.

"Yes," she insisted. "I was looking for you so I could tell you that no, I'm not staying in. I'm going out."

"Out?" He was peering at her intently, trying to find the bluff hidden somewhere in her expression.

"Yes, out."

"Out where?" he asked.

"Out. Out to…" she stalled, searching for something when suddenly it hit her. "To…umm...to a party!"

"You're going to a party?" He asked incredulously. "You got invited to some party?"

"Yes, I did," she bit out, defensively.

"You do realize you're not dating Max anymore, right? Anything you might have been invited to as his girlfriend, you can assume you've been uninvited."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "I'll have you know, I was just invited today. And it has nothing to do with Max."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Have fun at the party."

"Have fun on your date." With that, she stormed out of his room and slammed her own door shut.

She found herself still fuming on her bed half an hour later. Derek had already gone and she was left alone to wonder about that horrid feeling she'd had earlier when he'd told her about his date. It took some thinking and she came to the horrible conclusion that she was jealous. But of what? Of his date? Because she wanted to spend time with Derek?

Panic now hitting her, she grabbed her cell phone and quickly punched in Emily's cell phone number. When it began to ring, she quickly began to pray that Emily answered.

_Come on Em, please pick up. Please, please pick up. _

"Hi, you've reach Emily. I'm currently on a road-trip with the love of my life but you can leave me a message and I'll get back to you –"

"Ugh!" Casey groaned and hung up before the message finished. She was too bothered to calculate the timezone difference, so she couldn't call Lizzie. She realized this wasn't exactly a topic she wanted to explore with Sam. Calling Noel about this would simply be insensitive and this just wasn't the type of thing she could talk to Trevor about. And since she obviously couldn't run to Ralph about this, she came to the conclusion that her circle of friends she could talk to simply wasn't big enough. Becoming a little desperate, she dialed a number she hadn't called all that often.

"Hello?" came the girl's voice on the other end. It was difficult to hear since there was quite a lot of background noise.

"Hi, it's Casey."

"Excuse me? I'm sorry I can't hear you. It's kind of loud over here."

"Sally? It's Casey."

"Stacy?"

"CASEY!"

"Oh. Oh my gosh, Casey! How are you?" Sally yelled over the background noise.

"I was wondering if I could talk to you about Derek."

"You had a good talk with Eric? I thought you were dating Max?"

"No. Wait. What?"

"Casey, I'm sorry. It's just too loud over here. How about I call you back, okay?"

"What?"

"I'll call you back!" Sally yelled into the phone.

"Oh, okay. That's fine," Casey told her, highly disappointed that that hadn't panned out either.

She threw herself on to her back on the bed then turned her head to the phone still in her hand. There was one number left she could call and she wondered to herself if it was worth it. Was she actually jealous of Derek's date? And then it hit her. She was jealous of Derek's date. She was jealous that Derek was dating and she wasn't. Derek was rejoining the living (which was _her_ idea in the first place) and he was doing it better than her because while he was out dating, she was lying on her bed doing absolutely nothing.

She sat up and instantly began to dial the number she'd been hesitant about. As much as she didn't want to do this, going through with the decision she'd made meant there was no way she couldn't make the call now.

"Hello?" came the answer from the other end of the line.

"Hi, Kendra. It's Casey. There's this party I was invited to and I was wondering if you'd want to go with me."

* * *

Casey looked nervously at the party scene before her and knew she'd definitely made the right decision in calling Kendra. Sure the last guy Kendra had had a hand in setting her up with was Max (and look how that turned out) but to honest, it wasn't really fair to Kendra. She'd had no control over Max proposing and her refusing.

"Kendra," she said to her companion, "thank you so much for coming with me. There's no way I could have come by myself."

"No problem, Hun," she said, giving her a reassuring smile, "I'm glad you called. Besides, college parties are definitely not the type of parties newbies, such as yourself, should be attending solo for the first time."

"Yeah, thanks for letting me know about that. I didn't even realize it was a college party. Brandon was just this cute guy I met at work."

Kendra let out a small excited squeal and clutched Casey's hand at the mention of Brandon. "B.T.W. color me ten shades of jealous about that. Here you are, finally deciding to stop moping about the breakup of 'Masey' and who hits on you? Brandon Campbell. Only the hottest guy ever and Derek's predecessor. I crushed on him hard my first two years of high school and he never even looked my way once."

"I'm sure he looked, Kendra," Casey said, wanting to cheer her up.

"That's sweet, Hun. But no worries here, my self-esteem is perfectly in tact." Kendra grabbed her and half-led/half-dragged Casey further in the party crowd.

"Okay," Kendra announced, "college hottie at six o'clock. Just be cool, be yourself and don't take any open drinks."

"What?" Casey asked. Kendra gave her a bright smile in response.

"Just trust me on this. Anyway, I'll just be right over there if you need me and remember to find out if he has an equally hot, single roommate. I prefer someone who plays sports. Athletes tend to have great bodies. Good luck!"

"Kendra wait –"

"Casey, you made it!" came a familiar baritone voice. She remember to put a smile on before she spun around to return his greeting.

"Brandon! Hi. Umm…yeah…I uh, got off earlier than I was expecting."

"Lucky me," he said, smiling.

"Stop, you're going to make me blush."

"And I'm going to keep trying. You look amazing," he told her, taking in her outfit. Casey was immediately glad Kendra had insisted on dressing her. She was wearing a short, low-rise, denim mini-skirt and a sheer, lacey black top layered over a simple black camisole. She'd pulled her hair up, letting curls cascade down her back and Kendra had insisted on giving her 'smokey-eyes' with just a little shimmery lipgloss.

"Thank you," Casey answered. She never knew what to say when someone complimented her appearance.

He easily placed a hand on the small of her back and started leading her towards the kitchen. "Let's go get you a drink and get to know each other better."

Casey gulped, subtly, and quickly came to the conclusion that she might be a little out of her league. The guy was smooth, smoother even than Derek. Though, to be honest, she suspected that she was looking at Derek's future, three years down the line.

He found them a couple barstools to sit on in the kitchen and deposited her on one of the seats. "So, Casey, what would you like to drink?"

"Uh, not an open drink," she replied, parroting Kendra's warning from earlier. At the odd look he was giving her, Casey finally understood what Kendra had been cautioning her about. Worried now that she'd completely offended him, she quickly stammered out an explanation.

"Umm, sodas are just so much fresher, straight from the can. They retain more of their bubbles," she babbled dejectedly.

Rather than blow her off, which she had suspected he would not do, he simply chuckled and turned towards the cooler. "Two _fresh_ Pepsis coming right up."

He came back over and took the empty stool next to her as he handed her her soda.

"Do I make you nervous?" he teased, playfully bumping her shoulder.

"Is it that obvious?" she asked, miserably.

"If by obvious, you mean glaringly so? Then, yes. But just a little bit."

"I'm sorry," she apologized.

"Don't be. I'm assuming you're nervous because you maybe, sort of like me. In which case, I'd be very flattered." Casey was definitely flustered. She worried that the constant blushing would eventually make it permanent. She a glance over at Brandon and was struck at how good-looking he was. She could certainly see why Kendra had been taken with him for two years and why he'd lorded over the throne Derek eventually took over. Just past his head, in the crowd, Casey could see Kendra giving her an encouraging two-thumbs up and Casey found herself having to fight to keep the giggles back.

"Well?" Brandon pressed.

"Well what? You don't really expect me to answer that, do you?"

"Maybe I'm curious because I'd like to know if you'd be interested in going to dinner with me tomorrow night." Her immediate reaction was to halt, stop, return to the station and get back on a track that was more her speed. Brandon was definitely cute. According to Kendra he was the total package; brains, beauty, money, and athleticism. He was studying politics at the University of Toronto with hopes of going into Law. His father was a successful businessman who was now making his transition into politics. He was almost always near the top of the class when it came to grades and he played practically every sport imaginable. The downside? He was Derek's predecessor. Meaning before Derek, there was Brandon. Which meant Brandon was just like Derek when it came to women. He was a player.

She was just about to say 'no,' when she suddenly thought of Derek out on a date that very moment. Then she remembered Max proposing and her not being ready for marriage and she realized it was just a date. A date with Brandon Campbell. And suddenly, instead of saying 'No,' she found herself smiling back him saying, "Yes. I'd love to have dinner with you."

"Excellent," he replied, lifting up her hand and bringing it to his lips. "I'll pick you up tomorrow at seven."

And then Casey was reminded just how far out of her league guys like Derek and Brandon were. They weren't even playing by the same rules, let alone the same game. But instead of backing out of the date, she simply pulled the tab on her soda and took a drink. And as she did so, she wondered if maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if someone had spiked her drink because then maybe she'd be able to relax.

--

_Okay so that was Chapter 5 "Getting Back On The Horse." I feel like I got a little carried away length-wise but it definitely still worked. After you finish reading, please review and let me know what you think about the direction it's going :) _


	6. Chapter 6: I Want You To Be Happy But

_Author's Note: Hi guys! So here's another chapter in this summer themed saga of Derek and Casey. I'm so happy with the positive responses it's been getting! I hope this newest chapter doesn't disappoint._

**Disclaimer: **While I will regret all of my days how Derek Venturi isn't mine, I can at least comfort myself with knowing that at least Brandon is...it's a small comfort, but it's all I have :(

**Chapter Six: I Want You To Be Happy But…**

_July 12__th_

Derek strolled into his house at around 6:15pm. After Ian had dropped him off after their daily homework/study session at the library, he'd realized he still had around an hour before he needed to get ready for his date that evening. Rather than stick around waiting for Casey to come home, he'd called up Ralph who luckily had just gotten off from work. Ralph had invited him over to play some video games and so he took off.

He didn't see Casey in the living room and he didn't hear any noises coming from the kitchen, so he moved upstairs to look for Casey in her room. They hadn't really spoken since their little argument yesterday and given their new truce of sorts and discovering that Casey wasn't too bad to hang around, he decided to beat her to the punch and offer the olive branch first. That way, he figured, he was showing he was mature by apologizing, and by being the first one to make the move, technically, he won.

He decided since he was making the gesture, he'd go all out and knock on her door instead of simply barging in.

"Case?" he called through her door. "It's me. Can I come in?"

He waited a few moments but heard no response so he knocked again. "Casey? Case, open up." Now confused and wondering if she was madder than he thought, he decided to get an early start on the apologizing.

"Case, I'm sorry, okay? Let me in and we can…talk about it," he forced himself to say. He waited to give her time to response. Nothing.

"Casey," he called a little louder. "Look, I know that wasn't the best apology ever but give me a little credit, I don't do this often."

He knocked on the door harder. "Case-y! I never thought we'd be in this position, but, don't you think you're being a little, dare I say it, immature?"

A thought occurred to him. _Maybe she's sleeping? With headphones on?_ He gingerly pushed the door open and kept low in case any objects came flying at his head. When he was able to stick his whole head in and take a good look around the room, he realized that she wasn't there.

He let himself in to take in the entire scene, just in case he was missing something. He checked the closet, under her bed, under her dresser and behind the door. No Casey.

Now this was odd. Casey was the responsible one. She wouldn't just go out without saying something and he didn't remember her saying anything while she drove him to school that morning. Of course, he was half asleep at the time and likely would have forgotten. Which actually explained why she probably hadn't said anything then. But since then, she hadn't called or texted or –

Even before he'd finished the thought, he was already walking to his room to check the door and sure enough, there was a note stuck to the front of it.

_Derek –_

_I'm going out tonight. I would have told you this this morning but you probably would have forgotten by now. I'm probably going to be home late so in case you didn't have plans, I made a sandwich for you and left it in the refrigerator. _

_- Casey_

_P.S. I'm sorry about our fight last night. It was stupid and I shouldn't have been so sensitive. Truce?_

As Derek entered his room to get ready for his date with Veronica (whom he had met last night while on his date with Ellen), the only thing Derek could think about was how, when she wasn't even there, Casey had managed to apologize first and thus had beaten him. Again. To make himself feel better despite the fact that he _was_ going out that night, for dinner no less, he told himself he was definitely going to eat the sandwich. Just because.

* * *

Casey glanced nervously at the clock. Brandon would be picking her up in about twenty minutes and she couldn't seem to stop finding things that just weren't right.

"Kendra, have I thanked you yet for letting me come over? And for letting me have Brandon pick me up here? And helping me get ready for my date?" she asked as Kendra fixed a curl Casey had found fault with.

"Yes, yes, and yes. And only like a hundred times. Relax, Hun. You look great and from what I saw last night, Brandon's really into you." She pinned the last curl then gave Casey a final spritz of hairspray to keep it all in place.

"Do you really think so?" Casey asked her.

"Sweetie, he couldn't take his eyes off you all night."

"I guess," she sighed.

"Casey, what's wrong?" Kendra picked up that Casey wasn't as excited as she should be.

"Nothing really. It's just his reputation…" Casey trailed off.

"Oh that? Hun, I haven't seen him in like, three years. He could be a completely different person now. In fact, he probably is. Three years ago, he never would have gone for a girl like you. Sure you're super cute but you're obviously not just another bimbo and that's pretty much all he dating back then. Besides from what you told me, you guys have like, a ton in common."

"And I did make that open drink comment slash disaster and he didn't go running," she joked.

"See? That's something," Kendra agreed and they both had a good chuckle at the memory. "Oh and I'm sorry about that. I had no idea you didn't know what it meant."

"Don't worry about it. It worked out." Casey checked her makeup in the mirror and added a fresh coat of lipgloss. After a few minutes, she turned back towards Kendra.

"So, how do I look?" Casey stood up and did a twirl.

"Absolutely stunning," Kendra declared.

"Thanks, I mean it."

"Not a problem. What are friends for?" And at that moment, Casey realized that she was right. Her and Kendra were friends.

Casey beamed a smile at her then grabbed her into a hug.

"Uh, okay. There, there," Kendra said, patting her gently on the back. "Okay, Hun? You're wrinkling my outfit."

"Oops, sorry," Casey mumbled, pulling away.

"No prob. Okay, what say you and me go watch hot guys in music videos until Brandon comes?" Kendra proposed, already heading out of the room. Casey grabbed her purse and took one final glance in the mirror before rushing out to follow her.

* * *

Casey was afraid she'd hyperventilate, start to asphyxiate, pass out and manage to spill food all over herself on her way down. Then Brandon would definitely never call her again. And Derek would win.

She smiled at Brandon as he told her about the fraternity he'd joined. Scratch that, Derek couldn't win. Derek didn't even know she was on this date so technically it had nothing to do with him.

"So, Casey, do you think you'd join a sorority at college?" Brandon asked politely.

"Oh. Umm…I hadn't actually thought about it. I mean, my main concern really was making sure I got in," she answered and took a sip of her soda. If she concentrated really hard, she was able to do the move without shaking noticeably.

"Makes sense," Brandon replied with a smile. "So where are you going or have you not decided yet?"

"Well, my parents are divorced and I've spent most of my high school years with my mom. So I decided to attend NYU and hopefully get to know my dad better in the process."

"That sounds like a plan. NYU though? Really?" he asked and she swore she saw his smile brighten but she couldn't be sure.

"Yeah. I'm supposed to leave at the end of August." They launched into a conversation about college and classes as the waitress arrived with their meals.

She pushed the remains of her dinner around her plate with her fork. They'd pretty much finished eating and Casey had actually had a really good time talking with him. They had a lot in common. They'd talked about books they'd both read, movies, politics, hobbies. He'd even spoken about some his old girlfriends and she'd talked about her break up with Max.

But now, dinner was ending and Brandon had suggested a walk around the park so they could continue talking. And she was fine with that. It was the after part that worried her and had her on the verge of freaking out. She'd had an amazing time with him thus far but she didn't know what his expectations were. He was older and there was no question that he was more experienced. And he was charming and definitely romantic and she was afraid if she relaxed too much around him, he'd be able to charm her into doing way more than she was prepared for. And on the flip side, if she wasn't able to relax, she was afraid he'd think she was cold and aloof and maybe not that interested. And she was interested. Or at least she thought she was from what she'd learned about him so far.

Brandon was telling her about a prank his fraternity had forced him to do during rush week. It involved him in a giant cloth diaper, a gallon of honey and a foam bow and arrow. Casey was afraid to pry for details.

"And so then, they failed to tell me that it was a stuffed bear and I go running through the courtyard doing a really bad impersonation of a track runner. I'm shoving people out of the way left and right and jumping over everything in my way when I run smack into the Dean of my school screaming that a bear was loose and after me. He looks at me like maybe I should go see the Psychology department."

Casey's eyes widened like saucers but she wasn't sure how she's supposed to react. On the one hand, he was telling her about an experience that was clearly traumatic for him. He had thought his life was in danger and he apparently suffered a great deal of embarrassment and humiliation. On the other hand, the idea of this, the great Brandon Campbell, running through campus wearing nothing but a cloth diaper and drenched in honey was completely and absolutely hilarious.

He had paused in his retelling and was clearly now waiting for her response to his revealing tale. But she was undecided. She wanted him to think she was compassionate but the ridiculous picture of him in a diaper with honey refused to leave her brain and she could feel the bubbles of laughter threatening to come spilling out and tears were starting to form in her eyes at the effort of holding back them back.

"Go ahead," Brandon said, finally taking mercy on her. "Go ahead and laugh. I know you want to."

"I –uh…no, I don't want to laugh," she said with a straight face that cost her great effort.

"Yes, you do," he panned. "Everyone always wants to laugh when I tell them that story."

"No. Not me," she replied, now thinking she was a horrible person. "I don't want to laugh."

"Yeah, you do. I can see it in your eyes." Casey suddenly turned slightly away so he couldn't see her eyes anymore. He continued. "You're practically crying from the effort of holding back the laughter."

Casey quickly swiped at the few stray tears that had managed to fall. "No. Look, no tears. See?"

"Case, it's fine. It's okay."

"No, really I don't want to laugh it's just –" She stopped as she turned back to look him in the face and suddenly the image before her wasn't just this incredibly beautiful man with dark blonde hair, piercing green eyes, a strong defined jaw-line, impossibly long eyelashes that managed to avoid being feminine, and perfectly patrician features. Instead she saw this incredibly beautiful man with his perfect facial features and chiseled, lean yet defined chest wearing a diaper and drenched in honey screaming about a stuffed bear attacking him and trying to defend himself with a foam bow and arrow. And the dam broke and the laughter came flooding out.

"Oh my god, I'm so, so sorry," she managed in between hysterical peals of laughter. "I just…I can't stop."

Brandon suddenly turned away from her so that his back was to her.

"Brandon, no," she said and tried to reach out to him but stopped as another wave of laughter took her. "Brandon, I'm so sorry. But it's just so funny, don't you think?"

She heard an inaudible sound come from his direction and she immediately came to the conclusion that he was crying. She felt an immediate surge of guilt go through her and quickly sobered.

"Brandon, I'm so sorry. I can' even begin to tell you how sorry I am." She tried to reach out to turn him back to face her but he simply shrugged her hand off.

"Brandon, please. I feel horrible. I can't believe I just laughed in your face like that," she pleaded, now convinced she was a veritable bitch. Every other girl in London, he makes out with. But her? No, she had to make him cry. "I have no excuse for my horrible behavior. I –"

She paused to gather her words and raise cover her face with her hands in frustration when she noticed his shoulders start to shake. She paused and leaned forward and realized the sounds she'd taken as him crying were actually him –

"You're laughing?" she exclaimed, standing up from the bench they'd stopped at during their walk. She grabbed him forcefully on the shoulder and forced him to spin around to face her. "Oh my god, you're laughing."

"Hahaha," he sputtered. "I'm sorry, Casey."

"You knew I thought you were crying. You knew I thought you were upset," she accused. "I felt so horrible. How could you do that?"

"I honestly didn't think you'd assume I was crying. I wanted you to laugh," he told her, wiping away tears from the corner of his eyes. Technically, he had been crying…but only because he'd been laughing so hard.

"What?" she demanded.

"You were so tense that I wanted you to relax a little. And okay, so I thought I'd have a little fun at your expense," he admitted. "But honestly, I just wanted to loosen you up a little."

She relaxed at his explanation and even cracked a smile as she turned to her seat beside him. He had a point. She really had been stressing out.

"Was there really a stuffed bear?" He flashed her a dimpled grin at her question.

"Yeah, there was a bear. In fact, there really was honey and I did knock over the dean of the school," he supplied.

Casey smiled at his admission and caught that he'd failed to address one major factor of his story.

"What about the diaper?" she asked.

He let out a world weary sigh. "I should have known that'd be the only thing you'd care about, MacDonald."

"What? What is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, I've heard stories about you," he said sing-songy, teasing kind of tone as he bumped her shoulder with his.

"What? What kind of stories?" Casey demanded, half playing along with him and half actually worried about he might have heard from some friends of Max who weren't really fans of hers.

"Wouldn't you like to know," he said in the same tone, not really as a question, as he stood up and offered his hand to help her to her feet. She noted that his dimpled half-grin was probably his equivalent to Derek's infamous smirk. It suited him and the effect made her feel all warm inside.

"Come on, MacDonald. Let me buy you a coffee and maybe after you could show me which of the stories are true."

"Bran-don!" she yelled and smacked his arm, completely affronted. But he simply chuckled at her indignation and dragged her after him back towards his car.

* * *

They were seated next to a window in the newest trendy café. Casey was sipping her iced mocha latte and he was drinking some fancy chai concoction it'd taken about two minutes to explain to the barista how he wanted made.

"I'm not really that uppity, I swear," he said to her as they'd waited for their drinks to be made.

"I didn't say anything," Casey replied innocently but let him see the smirk on her face.

"I'm serious. Back at school, it's simply called the Dean's Chai and you can order it at any of the school run cafés or coffee carts and I'm completely addicted to it. So much so that I had bribe one of the workers into telling me exactly how it was made so I could order everywhere I went and exactly how I liked it."

"Wow," Casey had responded, still smirking at him. "Yeah, you're not uppity at all."

He'd simply flashed her that dimpled grin she was quickly growing to love and said, "Okay, maybe a little uppity. But you will eat your words once you try it."

At the time, she'd simply laughed and rolled her eyes.

But now, now was a different story. She'd tried his "Dean's Chai" and now her iced mocha latte, even with the extra squirt of whipped cream and sprinkle of cinnamon and cocoa powder, just didn't seem to be good enough. She wondered if now would be a good time for her to ask him to write down the ingredients so she could have it the next time she came here.

She faked a smile when she met his gaze and forced herself to take a sip of her drink.

"Yours good?" he asked, smiling politely.

"Yeah, it's great," she answered. And even though she'd admonished herself from doing so, she felt her gaze travelling down to his drink and gazing at it longingly. She wished, hard, that she'd paid attention when he'd been ordering the drink.

"So, it's been pretty hot lately, huh?" he asked, trying to engage her back into conversation.

"Yeah, really hot."

"You have any idea what the weather will be like when you go to New York?"

"Not exactly but it is the end of August so hopefully I'd have missed the worst part of summer."

"You know anyone else going to NYU? Or maybe New York in general?"

"Well my best friend, Emily, said depending on how things went here, she might consider transferring to the Fashion Institute. You know, if she got in. But Em is awesome so I'm sure she could."

"Casey," he said suddenly and with such intensity that she felt compelled to look up and meet his gaze.

"Yes?" She held her breath and wondered if she'd somehow now ruined the date. He leaned in and she was momentarily mesmerized by how the greens in his eyes actually seemed with swirl around and swam in a pool just highlighted with golden hazel. Suddenly, she really didn't want him to be dumping her and she swore she would stop pouting about the stupid drink. This was precisely why she was very surprised by the next words to come out of his mouth.

"Do you want to trade drinks?" He pushed his drink towards her and she felt all the air deflate out of her. Catching herself, she managed a response.

"Oh no, thanks. I'm fine. It's fine." He somehow raised an eyebrow and narrowed his eyes at the same time.

"No really. I'm fine with my drink. And you were right about yours," she said maturely.

This time, he just pointedly fixed her with a look.

She let out a sigh and dropped all pretenses as she quickly and simultaneously shoved her drink towards him and grabbed his towards her.

"Thanks. This really is amazing." He chuckled as she took a long greedy drink.

"Do you want me to give you the recipe?" He offered and she sent a quick thanks upstairs that she hadn't had to bring it up.

"Thanks, I'd love that."

They launched in an easy conversation after that as he confessed his secret love of comic books and she admitted to her dad storing all her old Barbies for her, in perfect condition all still with the original packaging. She explained that she would play with them then painstakingly return them back to their places.

"Wow, that doesn't sound like any fun at all," he admitted with a laugh.

She laughed with him. "It really wasn't. But at least all my Barbies are perfect. I bet you the next girl's are missing heads or clothes or shoes at the very least."

"I bet they are," he agreed. After a while, he decided to broach a different topic.

"So, you want to tell me why you were all tense earlier?" he asked seriously.

She brought her elbows up on the table and buried her face in her hands as she told him no.

"Not really. It's so embarrassing."

"Casey," he pleaded and she just shook her head. He reached and pulled hands away from her face. "Please?"

"Okay, fine." She crossed her arms and leaned them on the table. "It's…I don't know. No, I do know…I just…I don't really know how to say it."

He regarded her for a minute and finished off her mocha latte before placing the cup to the side and leaning forward a little so they could keep the serious turn in the conversation to themselves.

"It's the age thing, isn't it? You do realize I'm only three years older than you right?"

She had to smile at the way he'd said it. "No, it's not that."

"Then what is it?"

"You're going to hate me," she predicted.

"Impossible. I just gave you my Dean's Chai. I don't do that for just any pretty face."

She sighed and again felt herself unable to stop from grinning. He was definitely a charmer but she felt a sincerity coming him and so she felt brave enough to continue.

"It's your reputation," she said slowly, avoiding his gaze. "I know we talked about it a little at the party after you asked me out and I hate bringing it up again."

"Look, Casey, I know I've dated a lot of girls –" he began but she interrupted him.

"And I don't mind that you've dated a lot of girls. Honestly, I don't. I'm over that part," she explained.

"Then?" he pressed her to continue.

"It's that you've maybe _been_ with a lot of girls," she finished softly.

"Oh," he exhaled. "I see."

She chewed on her bottom lip nervously and purposely kept her gaze fixed on looking out the window at the people and couples on the sidewalk.

"I understand your concerns, believe me I'd have concerns about dating someone with my reputation here. But I want you to know, I'm definitely not seeing anyone else and I'm not that cocky teenager from back then," Brandon was explaining.

And though Casey was definitely hearing him and felt herself get excited at what he was telling her, something out the window now held her attention. She was watching a young couple walking by holding hands. They had paused at a street vendor selling small bundles of flowers and the girl was picking out a bouquet. What intrigued her was that the guy was Derek.

Some part of her realized that Brandon was still talking to her, but try as she might, she was able to tear her gaze away from the sight of Derek buying the other girl flowers, or tuck an errant lock of her ebony colored hair, or him leaning in to kiss her. Casey had no idea why she couldn't look away. Maybe she was simply curious since Derek usually preferred blonde bimbos? Whatever the reason for her fascination, she watched them until they walked out of her line of sight and she realized than Brandon was now expecting a response.

She suddenly felt his hand reach out and force her to face him.

"Casey, I want you to know that I would never force you to do anything you weren't comfortable doing." And the thing was, she believed him. She was relieved he hadn't seemed to notice that he hadn't exactly had her undivided attention. So she smiled at him and nodded to let him know that she believed him. And then he leaned in and gave Casey the most romantic kiss of her life.

And for the second time, Casey had the oddest sensation that for some reason she felt guilty.

* * *

_July 13__th_

Casey was on a high. Last night with Brandon had been the most wonderful, amazing, romantic, exciting date of her life. In fact, if it had been any more amazing, she wouldn't know what to do with herself. Later that evening, after he'd dropped her off and kissed her goodnight with a kiss that made her toes curl and her leg pop and her insides melt, she'd gotten ready for bed and was settling in her covers when she'd gotten a text message. It had read:

_Hey Case,_

_I just wanted to thank you for _

_an amazing time tonight and _

_wish you happy dreams, _

_hopefully of me __J_

_p.s. In case you feel the need_

_for a delicious cold beverage_

_tomorrow, I thought you _

_might need the following_

A second text had come through and this time it contained the ingredients and how to order the Dean's Chai. As she was starting to drift off to sleep, she did stop to wonder about seeing Derek with the girl in front of the café and the mysterious pang of guilt as Brandon had kissed her the first time. But Casey simply brushed it off as her mind doing what Derek often claimed it did, overanalyze everything to death. And in order to move forward, she had to stop doing that.

Today, she was meeting Kendra at a different café for a debriefing of her date with Brandon. According to Kendra, nitpicking through every detail of a date with your girlfriends and junk food, trying to decode everything the guy was saying just not out loud, wasn't overanalyzing, it was every girl's birthright as members of the female race. Much as it was a guy's right to sit around a bar with his buddies and yell pointlessly at the TV.

She spotted Kendra at a table and went over to greet her. Kendra saw her and she was quickly swept up into embrace full of the latest fashion and lots of blonde hair.

"Hun, I am dying. You have to tell me everything he said. Oh, and everything he did. And everything he didn't do."

"Uh, okay," Casey said with a laugh, thoroughly enjoying Kendra's enthusiasm. "But let's order some drinks first."

"Sure and let's get some brownies. I hear they're to die for."

Ten minutes later they were back seated at the table Kendra had claimed for them and their table was now full of their drinks (two Dean's Chais at the insistence of Casey that she would _love_ it) and their desserts.

"Hun, you're so right about this drink. How did you come up with this mix?"

"I didn't," Casey confessed with a goofy grin. "Brandon ordered one last night and let me try it. And I was hooked."

"Aw, he shared his drink with you?"

"Yeah and when I obviously liked his much better than mine, he gave it to me and drank my mocha latte instead." Kendra let out a squeal of excitement.

"I did tell you how jealous I was, right?" Kendra asked her.

"You might have mentioned," Casey joked back.

"Okay, enough about the other details, let's get down to the good stuff. How was the kissing? And have you found out about the roommate for me yet?"

* * *

Casey was still smiling to herself when she walked into the living room of her house. Derek looked up from his position on his recliner.

"Hey, what's up?" he asked then noticed the smile on her face. "And why are you so happy?"

Casey chewed on her lower lip, debating on how much to tell him as she flung herself onto the couch.

"Would you believe I've found inner peace?" she ventured.

"Not a chance," he retorted and pushed himself up from his reclining position so he could lean forward dramatically. "Are you on drugs?"

Casey narrowed her eyes and flung a throw pillow at him.

"I am not on drugs. I'm not drunk either so don't bother going there," she warned.

"Okay, chill. So what gives? It's kinda creeping me out." He shivered for effect.

Casey took in a deep breath and braced herself for the teasing she assumed was coming.

"I met someone," she blurted out. Derek felt himself freeze at her announcement.

"You were on a date last night?" his voice came out way more confrontational than he'd wanted.

"You went on a date too," she returned, automatically reacting to the edge in his voice.

"Yeah well, I told you about that date," he said defensively, assuming she was talking about the date with Ellen the night before.

"Yeah, about the waitress. You didn't tell me you were going out with her again last night."

"Last night? What are you talking about?" Derek suddenly found himself losing ground.

"I saw you when we were at the café. That girl with the long black hair. You got her flowers. Very smooth." Casey knew this was getting out of hand but she couldn't stop. She didn't even know if this was technically them fighting or not since she didn't know what they were fighting about or why.

"That wasn't Ellen." Derek didn't know why he felt the need to explain it to her. "That was Veronica. I met her the other night."

"You mean when you were out with Ellen?" There was something about the way she phrased the question and it felt like she was accusing him of something other than just being really shady with Ellen.

"Ellen wasn't a good match for me," he said simply.

"You heal fast," Casey replied flippantly.

"Wait. Don't turn this around on me. We both knew this was the way I was. What's you're excuse, huh?"

"My excuse? For what? I haven't done anything wrong," she responded, not bothering to stop herself from yelling. Except she _had_ felt like she had done something wrong. She thought back to the pangs of guilt and still didn't know why she'd felt them or why the sensation was returning now.

"Really? Nothing wrong? How about failing to tell me where you were last night?" Derek pressed her.

"I didn't fail to tell you. I left you a note that clearly said I would be out late."

"Yeah and you conveniently left out that part where you went on a date with some guy I don't know. What if Nora had or Lizzie and called?"

"Then they would have left a message and assumed we'd gone out seeing as it's not like you were home to take the message," she reminded him. "Besides, why do you care if I went on a date?"

"I don't," he said quickly.

"Then why are we even having this argument?"

"I –" Derek started to yell back, then stopped realizing he had no idea what came next. "I don't know."

At some point both Casey and Derek had stood up to scream at the other. Both now sunk back into their seats and lapsed into a silence as they figured out what they had _really_ been fighting about and neither wanting to be the one to bring it up first.

* * *

Casey decided to be the mature one.

"Do you think we should talk about it?" she asked quietly and she fidgeted with her hands. Derek leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling.

"Do I want to talk about it? No. Do I think we should talk about it? Unfortunately we probably should."

"I don't really know what to say though," Casey said honestly.

"You know, I think we're just making it a bigger deal than it should be," Derek said after a while.

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe it's only an issue because we don't really know what we are and suddenly we're spending a lot of time together."

"What do you mean we don't know what we are? You're my stepbrother and I'm your step-sister. We remind people of that all the time."

"Yeah, but do you really mean it?" Casey had to stop and think about it.

"I don't know," she answered after a minute.

"Well, I can honestly say I don't think you as my sister. At least not the way I see Marti or Lizzie."

For some reason, his statement made her heart skip a beat.

"Derek?" she questioned, just above a whisper.

"I don't know. I just don't see you as my sister. Probably because we hated each other so much in the beginning and missed some key bonding moment or something."

She had to smile at the memories of those early months forced under the same roof.

"Yeah, I'm sure we missed it. And all the ones that came after as well."

This time Derek laughed. "Well, whatever. Now that I think about it, I kind of liked hanging out you."

"You know what? Me too. I liked hanging out with you. I looked forward to it the whole time at that horrible job of mine."

"Maybe Ralph's right," Derek observed. "Maybe we're friends?"

Casey thought it over and she figured he was right. Somehow in sharing their misery at the disappointment their summers had started out to be, they'd become friend.

"Yeah," she agreed with him. "We're friends and we both just got a little jealous at the idea that someone taking our friend away so quickly when we'd just become friends."

"And having never been friends with each other before and the whole step-sib issue, we didn't know how to act," Derek added.

"Yeah, exactly." They both took a moment to let it all sink in.

"Want to hug on it?" Casey suggested when she caught his eye again. He hesitated before giving in.

"Fine. But you tell anybody about this and I cause you serious bodily injury," he said standing and pulling her to her feet.

Casey easily stepped into his arms which he quickly wrapped around her and as Casey leaned her head against his chest, listening to beating of his heart, she realized that something, she still didn't know what, wasn't quite right.

He released as her cell phone started ringing, letting her know that it was Brandon calling.

"I better get that," she said sheepishly.

"Sure. I gotta go anyway, I'm meeting Ralph and some guys for hockey."

"Okay, I'll see you for dinner?" she asked as she picked up the phone.

"Yeah, sure," he said as he got up and playfully punched her in the shoulder before he headed to his room to grab his hockey gear.

* * *

Casey waited until the sounds of Derek heading up the stairs stopped and ended with the sound of him shutting his bedroom door behind him, before answered the phone.

"Hey," she said in greeting and sunk back into the couch to talk to Brandon. He was telling her about this one Chinese restaurant he wanted to bring her to that Friday when Derek ran down the stairs and paused at the door to wink at her and gesture towards her phone before heading out.

Even as Casey accepted Brandon's invitation and was even genuinely excited at the prospect of going out with him again, she still couldn't shake the feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach that something was wrong with this picture.

--

_That was a doozy of a chapter, huh? I hope you guys didn't mind all the Brandon/Casey action. It's all for a reason, I swear and Brandon isn't going to play a big part for much longer. That's all I'm saying. This was one of those necessary chapters so I apologize if it didn't really move anything too much forward. It was more like laying tracks but I hope it was still enjoyable. Again, reviews are greatly welcome and I like reading what you guys have to say. See you next time!_

_- SugarRune :)_

_P.S. It was real late when I finished this and I was in a major hurry to get it posted so I apologize that I didn't really get to edit it as much as I would have liked. Please let me know about any major errors and I'll try to fix it when I can._


	7. Chapter 7: Not Without Me

_Author's Note: I have no excuses except that the holidays were crazy and that my job depresses me and when I'm depressed I can't write. But to make up for it, this chapter is pretty long. I kind of rushed it so I'm sorry if there are a bunch of mistakes. If you see any really bad ones, please let me know and I'll fix them. Anyways, I hope you like it! _

**Disclaimer:Except for Life With Derek Season 1 on DVD, I own nothing but Brandon and the plot :(**

**Chapter Seven: "…Not Without Me"**

_July 14__th_

Derek stared blankly at Ian for minute, trying to digest what he'd just told him. Vaguely, he realized that his mouth was hanging open and that probably his eyes were bugging out, making him look pretty stupid. But at the moment, he didn't particularly care.

"Ian, dude, what do you mean you quit?" Derek asked, slightly in a panic knowing full well that chances were George would blame him for this.

"I mean I quit," Ian said plainly as he began to pack up his stuff. They'd just finished their tutoring session and he figured now was as good a time as any to break the news. "Look, it's nothing personal little man, but this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me and I have to get my behind on that plane first thing tomorrow."

"Yeah, okay I get that," Derek said, clearing his throat. "But what about the rest of our tutoring sessions? I mean, I still have my final tests in two weeks."

"And you'll do fine. Just keep with the studying. Don't start slacking just yet and you'll do fine."

"Yeah, whatever," Derek muttered grabbing his bag and following Ian to his car. They drove in silence back to Derek's house and when Ian pulled to a stop to let him out, he call Derek back.

"Here," he said handing him several bills. "This should cover what your dad paid me for the last two weeks. If you're really stuck, I'm sure that should be enough to get you another tutor. Good luck little man. I know you can do it!"

"Yeah, thanks Ian. Uh…good luck with your Japanese Karaoke Championship thing."

"Thank, man," Ian grinned.

"And umm…say hi to Hiroki for me," Derek replied, referring to Ian's boyfriend.

"I will. It's been real," Ian called out as he pulled back away from the curb.

"Great, now what am I going to do?" Derek muttered to himself as he trudged into the house.

* * *

Derek was flipping through the channels when Casey came bounding down the stairs in a brown plaid miniskirt and a red racer back tank top layered over a white one.

"Derek," she exclaimed in surprise then quickly checked her watch. "I didn't hear you come in. I must be running late."

Derek took in her outfit, noted the careful up-do she was sporting and the lipgloss she was wearing that was even glossier than usual and knew she was heading out on another date.

"Another date with the mystery guy?" he drawled teasingly and winced internally at how fake it sounded even to him.

"Yes, date number two to be exact," she smiled happily as she slipped on a pair of shoes only to kick them off in favor of another pair.

"So, who exactly is this guy? Do I know him?" He was working over time trying to keep his voice portraying only mild interest. If he'd known becoming friends with Casey would suddenly bring out the protective brother side in him, he probably would have opted to maintain the barely contained dislike they'd previously shared. He didn't even know the guy and already he felt the urge to hunt him down and stake him.

"Umm…Kendra says you probably do," she told him over her shoulder as she checked her makeup in her mirror.

"Oh goody, Kendra thinks I know him. That's so informative," he replied sarcastically.

Casey simply rolled her eyes as she patted her hair down for stray strands.

"Casey, does he have a name?"

"Huh? Oh, I mean of course. Brandon Campbell. I met him a few days ago at work. He's the one who invited me to that party."

Casey's back was to him as she grabbed a light sweater from the coat rack and Derek was glad or else she might have caught the fury that had suddenly come into his eyes or the whitening of his knuckles as he grabbed the arms of his chair.

"Brandon Campbell?" he bit out the name of his predecessor.

"Yeah, you know him?" she asked distractedly as she changed her mind about her shoes and put on the first pair again.

"Brandon Campbell, three years ahead of us?" Oh yes, he'd heard of him all right. What was it with Casey dating guys with reputations as bad as his? Why couldn't she find a nice loyal nerd or some average boring guy like Noel?

"Yeah, that's him."

"He tell you about his reputation?" Derek asked casually, hoping that would give her pause.

"Oh yeah, we talked about it," she said off handedly. "That's all in the past. He's grown up since going to college."

"Really?" Derek asked through gritted teeth and mentally rolled his eyes.

"Yeah. We had a really nice talk the other day."

"I'm sure you did," he returned, hoping she didn't notice the clipped tone and sarcasm.

The sound of a car pulling up to their house drew Casey's attention. "Oh that's probably him. I'll see you later."

"Oh, are you going out? Or staying in today? I didn't have a chance to make anything for dinner," she said, pausing at the door worriedly.

"Don't worry about it, I got plans," he said quickly.

"Oh good. Okay, see you later," she grinned, closing the door behind her.

"Great," Derek groaned, hunching forward in his chair. "Now I have to find a tutor and make plans. When did Casey become the social butterfly?"

* * *

Brandon looked down at Casey and raised an eyebrow questioningly. A small smile played at the corner of his lips but he was valiantly warding it off because somehow he knew she would interpret the smile as him laughing at her.

"Casey," he began cautiously, "anytime now would be good. The nice man is waiting and the kid behind you looks ready to burst."

Casey sighed deeply and motioned for him to lean in and hear her whisper.

"I don't think I can do it," she whispered honestly.

"Your aim not good?" he whispered back, now afraid he was losing the will to hold back his smile.

"No, it's not that," she replied then thought better of it. "Okay, that's not true. My aim probably is kind of bad but that's not why I can't do it."

"It's not against your religion to play carnival games is it?" he joked.

"No," she answered before processing exactly what he'd asked her. "What religion bans carnival games?"

"Casey, it was a joke. You know, to make you laugh?"

"Oh." Her eyes suddenly widened. "Oh! It was a good joke." She forced out a laugh she hoped didn't sound as maniacal out loud as it had in her head. Brandon bit the inside of his cheek to hold in the laughter that was now threatening to spill out.

"Right. Umm…so then what's the problem?"

"I just…can't the fish get hurt from the ball going into their little bowls? Or maybe it would traumatize the fish. I can't have traumatized fish on my conscious."

"Case, baby, I think the fish are okay with it. If the ball lands in their bowl, they get to go home to a nice new family."

Casey considered this and as she did, she realized he'd called her 'baby.' A blush began creeping into her cheeks and she quickly turned back towards the fish bowls to hide it from him. He seemed to unnerve her in a way only one other person on the planet could. Derek would have handled the situation differently. He wouldn't have been sweet and charming about it, she decided. No, Derek would have gotten impatient and grabbed the ball and tossed it into a bowl himself. She smiled at the idea before realizing where her thoughts had headed. Why on earth was she thinking about Derek? Brandon had just called her 'baby.' Was she okay with that?

She felt him move closer behind her. Suddenly, his choice of words was no longer that big a deal. He leaned down and rested his chin on her shoulder and she felt his hands rest on her hips. _Wow_, she squealed silently. Even Max had never been this physical publicly, and definitely not on the second date. Her breath caught as her pulse began racing at his nearness.

"Ready?" he said into her ear and she shivered slightly at his breath brushing against the sensitive skin. _Casey, Casey, Casey, you have really graduated into the big leagues,_ she thought to herself. Somehow she managed to nod that she was ready and he signaled the booth operator who looked about ready to toss them aside for the next customer.

"She's ready," Brandon told the pimply faced teenager. Casey noted he kept his hold of her hips.

"Finally," the teenager muttered before repeating the rules. "You paid five bucks so you get three tosses. If one ball lands in a bowl with a fish, you get the fish. Two balls landing get you two fishes or one fish and a small stuffed animal. All three balls and you get three fishes or one fish and a large stuffed animal."

Casey narrowed her eyes and took aim with her first ball. The table wasn't very far and it was covered with fish bowls so you didn't really need to throw the ball very hard or very far. The catch was it was quite obvious not every bowl contained a fish and as all the bowls were clear, you couldn't really tell which had one or not. She decided to blindly aim for the bowls in the middle and with that thought in mind, she tossed the ball. The pimple-faced attendant wouldn't check the bowls until all her balls were tossed so she made quick work of the last two balls. She'd held up the line for a good five minutes with her moral dilemma so the attendant wasn't a big fan of hers and seemed to take great pleasure in handing over the single, tiny goldfish. She'd just spent five bucks on a something she could have bought for thirty-five cents at the pet store. Casey held up her prize and eyed it dejectedly.

"Next," called out the attendant whose nametag claimed his name was Melvin. She took a step to the side, ready to move on to the next booth when Brandon grabbed her wrist and pulled her back to the counter.

"Hold on," he said, slapping down another bill on the counter and smiling coolly at Melvin. "I believe it's my turn."

Melvin smiled tightly at him and grabbed the money and replaced it with three balls. "Pick out the stuffed animal you want Case. Make sure it's a big one."

"You don't have to do that," Casey argued, not wanting him to waste his money because she wanted a stuffed fish. "I don't really want the stuffed fish…that much."

"Maybe I want stuffed fish," he replied casually, giving her that half-smile she'd come to like so much. She ordered her cheeks to fight the blush and remained silent as he quickly tossed the balls towards the bowls.

Two minutes later, they were walking away from the booth, his arm casually draped over her shoulder. Casey kept quiet as long as she could and to her credit, they'd made it to the Funnel Cake booth before she broke.

"Okay, remember what I said about the stuffed fish?" she asked, trying hard not to look longingly at the giant, pretty, multi-colored fish Brandon was carrying along with his brand new gold fish.

Brandon flashed her a knowing grin as they waited for their funnel cake. "Tell you what. You trade me goldfish and the stuffed fish is yours."

Casey narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him. "Trade you? Why? Your fish is a lot bigger than mine."

"Uh-huh. Those are my terms. Take them or leave them." The funnel cake guy handed Brandon their order and he made his way over to a rare free table with a large umbrella shade. Casey had been to this particular amusement park a dozen times. Free tables, especially ones with umbrella shades were hard to come by even on a weekday, especially during the summer. The fact that he just waltzed up to one reminded her yet again of a certain somebody she knew who also seemed born to walk under a lucky/charmed sign. She grudgingly walked over to the table and sat across from him.

"Something on your mind, Case?" he asked as he held up a fork with a piece of funnel cake and strawberry to her mouth. She took the offered bite and swallowed before she answered him.

"I've been to this funnel cake stand at least a dozen times."

He nodded patiently and waited for her to continue.

"It's the most popular funnel cake stand in this entire park."

"The man does add a lot of strawberries and whipped cream," Brandon commented, feeding her another piece.

"I never get a table, especially not one that still had the umbrella shade," she told him.

"Okay?"

"You just walked right up to it and it was here, empty, waiting for you."

"I did," he replied, feeding himself a bite.

"And you landed three balls in fish bowls and they all had fish on your first try!"

"I did do that."

"Do you get everything you want?" Brandon stopped to think her question over. After a minute he was nodding his head.

"Usually, yeah." At the expression she had on her face, a combination of annoyance and awe, Brandon pressed her about his earlier question. "Now, about my proposal?"

She hesitated so he took the opportunity to toss their plate before returning to pull her to her foot. "So? What's it going to be?"

She felt a tingle down to her toes as he locked his beautiful eyes with hers. It was his smug smile though that reignited her fighting spirit.

"I want the fish," she announced, taking a step back and thrusting her own fish at him.

"Hmmm, I want to add just one more condition to the deal."

"You can't do that," she argued.

"Sure I can." Her mouth opened to rebut but he cut her off. "Don't worry. It's easy I promise."

"What is it?" She quirked her mouth to let him know she didn't believe him.

"Just name the fish after me."

"Name the fish after you? No way."

"Why not?"

"Because it's silly. A fish named Brandon? Really? That's so not a fish name."

"It would be coolest the fish name ever. All the other fish would look on in envy wishing they had such a cool name."

Casey couldn't help but giggle at such a ridiculous suggestion.

"Ah! You're laughing," he pointed out, grinning wildly which only made her giggle more. "So, is that a yes?"

"No! Brandon isn't a proper fish name. A fish should be named Flounder or Scuttle or …ummm….ummm…I got it, Nemo!" He suddenly pulled her close and lowered his lips to hers. The kiss only lasted a second before he pulled away.

"Too late," he said.

"What?" Casey asked, her voice just a little breathless.

"I said too late. We just sealed the deal with a kiss. Your fish will now be named Brandon. Such a fine name if I do say so myself."

"I – wait a second. I didn't agree to that."

"Yes you did. I distinctly felt your lips kiss me back." He held out the goldfish and the stuffed fish.

"You cheated," Casey replied sulkily as she took the stuffed fish and traded his goldfish for hers.

"You feel cheated?" he teased.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do," she muttered, even as she let him wrap an arm over her shoulders and lead them towards the next ride. She didn't even realize they weren't exactly talking about the same thing.

"I guess I have no choice." He let out a sigh and brought them to a stop before leaning in and capturing her lips for another kiss, this time letting the kiss linger until the need for air forced him to pull away. "There."

Casey was speechless and he took advantage of that fact to lean in and whisper something in her ear.

"I forgot to mention the deal went both ways." His voice in her ear and the tingle down her spine it always seemed to cause snapped her out of her trance. But before she could ask what he meant, she found herself face to face with the goldfish she had traded for Brandon's.

"Casey meet Casey, my new goldfish. I'm sure her and Goldfish Brandon will get along just swimmingly." He chuckled slightly at his pun.

"Casey? You're naming your goldfish Casey?" He lowered the goldfish away from her face and gave her a Cheshire grin.

"Of course, why else would I make sure you named yours after me?" He took hold of her hand and began leading them through the amusement park again. "Now, let's see if we can win you more things you can name after me."

By the time they stopped for another snack, again at a table that was magically free by the time Brandon had reached it, Casey found herself sitting next to a bag nearly as big as her filled with stuffed animals of various sizes. Brandon was sitting next to the biggest prize, a purple elephant she gauged to be about the size of Lizzie (she suspected she would be giving it to Marti upon her return whether she wanted to or not). In all, there were twenty-three stuffed animals and according to Brandon, all were to be named Brandon Jr. or some form of it.

As Casey sat eating her ice cream while she listened to Brandon tell her about another hilarious escapade his fraternity had gotten him into, she realized that part of what made Brandon so appealing was he was genuinely as charming and sweet and fun to be with as everyone thought he was. She'd caught more than one girl shoot her envious looks since they'd arrived but to his credit Brandon didn't seem to acknowledge the other girls or even care. And while he was constantly knocking her off balance with his charm and wit and despite that fact that she couldn't seem to understand why she'd drawn up more than one comparison between him and Derek, she had to admit being with someone in the big leagues had its benefits. Sure, it got a little uncomfortable knowing there were several pairs of eyes glaring daggers into your back, but there was definitely something to be said about knowing that while they were all wishing they could be sitting where you were, he was sitting across from you, holding your hand and letting you know there was no place else he'd rather be.

* * *

Derek wandered through the mall aimlessly. He figured since it was Friday, he'd worry about finding a replacement tutor once the weekend was over. He was determined not to let Casey have more fun than him this weekend but as it stood, it was closing in on 8pm and he had had no fun whatsoever.

His stomach rumbled just then reminding him that he had yet to eat dinner. He did an about face and headed back towards the food court. He decided on burgers and fries and made his way to an empty table. He'd noticed several girls that were definitely his type eyeing him but for the life of him, he couldn't muster up the interest because his main concern was finding another tutor even though he'd already decided not to worry about it.

Dear Lord, Casey was getting to him he realized, much to his horror. He took a giant bite out of his burger and crammed in several fries.

"This is why I hated her in the first place, I give her an inch and she goes and ruins my life," he muttered to himself. "Oh just wait until she gets home from her date with _Brandon_. I'm going to give her a piece of my mind. Just you wait and see _Casey_."

Once he'd finished eating, he realized he was back where he started. He had absolutely no where to go and nothing to do.

"Why is this my life?" he cried out to no one in particular, not really caring who heard him.

"I'll take a wild stab at that question," said a familiar voice approaching from behind. "My guess would be karma? It tends to bite you in the butt."

Kendra slid into the seat across from him and flashed him a slanted grin as she propped an arm onto the table palm up and propped her chin up with it.

"Ken-draa," Derek drawled in greeting.

"Derek," she replied.

"So," he said cautiously, leaning back in his seat. "What brings you by?"

"Nothing, just shopping." To demonstrate, she dropped a couple bags onto the empty seat next to her. "You? You know, aside from the bad karma."

"I…ummm…I-I was…ummm…" Derek couldn't come up with anything.

"Well this is interesting. Derek Venturi alone on a Friday night with no plans in sight. Life is good," she gloated.

"Wow, this little reunion has been so much fun. Well, no it hasn't, actually. Gotta go." He moved to get up and leave but Kendra stopped him.

"What?" he demanded.

"Why so hostile?" Kendra asked.

"Kendra, if memory serves, and it does, the last real encounter we had before you left for college consisted of you leaving tied to a chair. I'm not exactly feeling the warm fuzzies."

"Oh that? Derek, I was mad at you."

"So you left me tied to a chair at the mercy of a bunch of crazed animals?"

"I thought you said your siblings tied you up?" Kendra scrunched her brow in confusion.

"Same thing," he grudgingly admitted. Kendra rolled her eyes.

"Fine. But I have some information I'm willing to share if you're willing to forgive me?"

"Information about what?"

"Oh I don't know how about a certain step-sibling that I'm sure you know is out with a certain high school legend?" she teased.

"You knew about Casey and Brandon?" Derek accused.

"Of course, who do you think went with her to the party the other night?"

"You took her to the party?"

"She took me, actually. She met him at work and he invited her."

"So it's true. She's winning."

"Winning?" Kendra had never noticed before just how similar Derek and Casey were. They were competitive to the core and jumped from one thing to another so quickly it was hard to follow their train of thought.

"We had this agreement to get back out and rejoin the living but I never thought Casey would be able to do it better than me. She's out with some guy who is almost as cool as I am and I'm sitting here. Doing nothing."

Kendra looked thoughtful for a second. "Okay, then let's change that."

"Change what?"

"The fact that you're doing nothing." She got up and grabbed her shopping bags before thrusting them towards Derek. "Here, let's go."

Derek instinctively took the bags from her and stood before he realized what he'd done.

"Wait, why am I carrying your bags?"

"Because, Derry, you can't expect me to carry them all the way to my car. Not let's go." She began walking towards the mall exit before Derek could protest again.

"Kendra, where are we going?" Derek asked once he'd caught up with her.

"To a party, silly. We can't let Casey get too far ahead of you. You're Derek Venturi after all." She threw him a sly grin over her shoulder and she continued to lead them to her car.

Derek smirked back. She was right. He _was_ Derek Venturi and Derek Venturi never lost.

* * *

It was just after midnight by the time Brandon walked Casey to her door, carrying the bag full of Brandon Juniors and the giant purple elephant dubbed Brandon III. She opened the door and let him drop them by Derek's armchair.

"You can leave them there. I'll bring them up once I decide where I'm going to put them all." She handed him the goldfish and made her way to the kitchen. She grabbed a small glass bowl and filled it with water before returning to the living room. Brandon helped her get Goldfish Brandon into bowl and dropped a few fish flakes into it.

"I'm so glad that guy gave us some food for the fish," Casey said watching Goldfish Brandon inhale several flakes before returning her attention to the real one.

"I think he was glad to do it after that lecture you gave him when we went back to the booth after you realized the fish would be hungry until the stores open tomorrow."

"I was just telling him how irresponsible it is to give fishes away not knowing when their next meal is going to be since stores aren't necessarily still open once the fish has been won."

"This is true," Brandon replied taking hold of her hands.

"I talk too much, don't I?" Casey suddenly asked.

"Not at all."

"I do. You probably thought it was silly to get into that fight with Melvin."

"Melvin?"

"The fish guy."

"Oh. His name was Melvin?" She nodded and he thought about it. "Oddly fitting."

"Brandon!" she scolded, wanting him to get back to the topic at hand.

"Sorry. No, I thought it was cute how he was scared of you."

"Really?"

"Really." She chewed nervously on her lip as she wondered what was supposed to happen next. From the silence of the house when she'd unlocked the front door, she realized Derek was still out so essentially, she was home alone. With Brandon. She knew he'd promised to go at her pace and she hardly thought he expected anything on their second date but the fact remained she was uncomfortable with the idea of being alone with him in an empty house where there were many flat surfaces. Besides, even if he wasn't expecting sex, there were a lot of things between simple kissing and sex. A lot of those things she didn't even know the name to yet let alone which were considered acceptable on a second date between two college-aged people. And frankly, Casey wasn't ready to find out.

She swallowed heavily. Probably a little too heavily because she thought she saw his lips twitch.

"Ummm…" she stammered.

"It's getting late, I should go," he said, taking mercy on her.

"You don't have to," she answered, despite the fact that she was immensely relieved.

"Yeah, I do." They held hands as they headed back to the front door. He pulled her in and kissed her and Casey ever so briefly considered inviting him to stay again.

"Wow," she breathed as he broke the kiss, unaware that she'd said it out loud.

"Right back at you." He gave her The Smile.

The words "You can stay" were again suddenly at the tip of her tongue. He quickly pressed a finger to her lips.

"Don't you dare." Her eyes showed her confusion until he leaned in conspiratorially and whispered, "I might just accept."

Her lips instantly clamped shut. He smirked at her reaction and quickly placed a quick kiss on her cheek before heading towards his car. She shut the door behind her but had to brace herself against it a moment.

"He's just so…wow," she admitted to the empty house. Her eyes quickly took in the pile of stuffed animals and the Goldfish Brandon. "Yeah, definitely wow."

Half an hour later she was dressed in PJs and tucked into bed when her phone chirped letting her know a text had come in.

"_Goldfish Casey wanted me to tell you sweet dreams._

_- Brandon"_

Casey couldn't keep the grin off her face as she shut off her lamp and closed her eyes as happy memories of her perfect date swirled around her head. Oddly, the one last thought she had before drifting off sleep wasn't about Brandon, it was about Derek and whether or not he would have made her name all the stuffed animals after himself. No, definitely not she decided sleepily. Not the animals but for sure the goldfish. A goldfish named Derek. She smiled. Somehow that seemed like a good name for a goldfish.

-------------------------------------

_I know I know, there was very little Dasey interaction. Instead they're flirtling with Brandon and Kendra. But I promise there's a reason for it all and it won't last much longer! Also, I know my updates are erratic at best but I am determined to finish this story so bear with me. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and please remember to review. I love hearing your opinions and I do read them all!_

_- SugarRune_


	8. Chapter 8: The Choices We Make

_AN: I know it's been….a while but at long last here's Chapter Eight. I recently saw the Life With Derek movie and it seems to have refueled the fire. Hopefully it can keep it going!_

_**Diclaimer: Nope, I still don't own it**_

**Chapter Eight – The Choices We Make**

_July 17__th_

It was Monday and Casey was miserable. She'd arrived at work at precisely 9am, still on cloud nine. She'd miraculously had the whole weekend off and on Saturday, Brandon had arrived on her doorstep at eight in the morning with coffee, assorted freshly baked bagels and cream cheese, fish food, and a brand new fish bowl complete with castle, shiny stones for the bottom and a small pump to make Goldfish Brandon a happy camper. They spent the morning eating the bagels and watching cartoons before Casey cleared a space on her dresser for Goldfish Brandon's new home and the real Brandon set it up. Around noon Brandon had to leave which left Casey plenty of time to curl up on the couch and read, something she'd been neglecting to do in recent weeks. Sunday morning and afternoon had been spent catching up on e-mails and phone calls with Emily, Sam and Trevor and that evening had been spent on another romantic night out with Brandon.

Casey was positively glowing as she readied her register for another day at work. Her good mood lasted until 11am when the two girls, whom Casey had labeled the Barbie Twins in her head, arrived for their shift. As per usual, they went out of their way to walk up to her register only to pointedly ignore her as they continued on to the back to put away their personal belongings. Casey tried to fight it, but the urge to roll her eyes was too great and as she did so, she let out a sigh and turned her head back towards the front.

"Hey, don't let them bother you," said Brittany, a fellow cashier. Casey turned her attention to the blue-eyed redhead.

"They pretty much dislike everyone anyway," she continued. She gave a small knowing smile that Casey returned.

"Thanks. But don't worry, I stopped taking it personal a long time ago," Casey told her, "Especially since I've only ever exchanged like two sentences with them."

"Hey Casey," came a snide, sing-song voice behind them. Barbie Twin Number 1 walked up to the counter carrying a giant pile of fitting room discards with Barbie Twin 2 closely behind her carrying an equally large pile of clothing. They smiled malevolently as they unceremoniously dumped the clothes in a heap at Casey's feet.

"The fitting room doesn't seem to have been cleared out last night," Barbie Twin 1 announced, her voice artificially sweet. Her hair was bleached to within an inch of its life. Casey thought of her as Bleach Barbie.

"Yeah, we found these hidden in a changing stall. Normally we'd love to put them away but since it's getting busy and we're on Fitting Room duty, we just don't have the time," Barbie Twin 2 added gleefully. Her blonde locks extended from notably dark roots. She was Fake Barbie.

"Yeah, we're getting swamped," Bleach added. "So we took it upon ourselves to talk to the manager."

"And we asked if you could do it and she said yes," Fake finished the story.

Casey smiled tightly at them. She was pretty sure they had planned this and though she was surprised they had the combined brainpower to plan anything at all, she wasn't exactly surprised they had gone out of their way to mess with her.

"Of course I'll do it," she said cheerily. "Anything to help."

"Good," Fake replied. "Because once you're done with those, there are more."

"Plenty more," Bleach elaborated. "It seems all the back stalls are filled. That was just the first two rooms."

"Of course it was," said Brittany sarcastically from her register. The Barbie Twins swiveled their heads to glare at her, leaving Casey to duck to avoid having their hair whip her in the face. They turned back to Casey to toss a venomous "Later" at her before teetering away on their ridiculously high stilettos back towards the fitting room.

Casey groaned as she bent down and grabbed a handful of clothes to start re-hanging and re-folding.

"Casey, toss some over here. I'll help you," Brittany offered.

"Thanks, Brittany. I really mean that." She tossed over a few shirts and pairs of pants.

"It's no problem. Besides, given all the things they could have planned for you, this was pretty tame," she observed.

"True," Casey agreed. "It could have been worse."

And it got worse. The Barbie Twins had apparently gotten their hands on one of the stores' label guns and had run rampant through the piles of clothes they'd left stashed in the fitting rooms. Casey spent the rest of her shift taking care of the clothes left in the fitting room and explaining to confused (and many irate) customers why everything seemed to be priced wrong.

* * *

Casey struggled to force herself up the stairs of the front porch and make her way to the door. She was exhausted, irritated and just down right miserable. She wanted nothing more than to soak in the bathtub and call Brandon and let him make her feel all better. Maybe she'd even invite him over. She was in the midst of considering the merits of the idea as she dug out her house key and reached for the door knob when the door surprisingly swung open.

"Kendra!" she exclaimed, surprise obvious in her voice.

"Casey, hey!" Kendra returned. Casey looked at Kendra then over at Derek, who was looking rather uncomfortable just behind her. She focused back on Kendra who was suspiciously a tad flushed.

"I'm sorry," she stammered. "Kendra, umm…did I forget something? Did we have plans?"

"Oh, no. No. Ummm, actually I was just hanging out with Der-bear. We ran into each other the day and then he went with me to that party I told you about."

"Der-bear?" Casey mouthed discreetly to Derek. Derek had the decency to grimace in response.

"Anyway, we were just hanging out but now I'm going to be so late for work." Kendra turned to Derek and playfully jabbed him in the chest. "I told you I was going to be late."

Derek gave her an "aww shucks" face but quickly replaced it with an impassive look when he caught Casey looking.

"Well, I have to run," Kendra announced and gave Derek a quick peck on the lips. "I'll see you later Der."

"Case, we have to hang out again." She pulled her into a quick hug. "You have to update me on all things Brandon."

Kendra was in her car and backing out of the driveway before Casey or Derek even got the chance to reply. Casey followed Derek back to the living room and Derek noticed she was oddly quiet despite what had just happened.

Derek watched as she dropped her purse next to the couch before dropping herself onto the seat.

"Did I…miss something?" Casey finally asked. She noticed he swallowed hard before answering her.

"No. I don't think so." He stood suddenly and clapped his hands together. "Let's grab dinner! I'm buying!"

"Whoa! Hold on just a sec." She grabbed a hold of his shirt and dragged him back to his recliner. "Sit. Spill."

Derek let out an irritated sigh. "See? This is why us being friends is stupid. I hate having to tell you things."

Casey released an unladylike snort. "Derek, really? How mature! Just spill already. I know something's up."

"You're making a bigger deal out of this than it really is."

"Really? Try me."

"There's nothing to tell. We ran into each other at the mall the other day. She mentioned the party. I went. We had a good time so we hung again today. End of story. There. Happy?" He added in a sarcastic smile for good measure.

"Thrilled," Casey replied, her own sarcastic smile firmly in place.

"I'm reconsidering this whole friendship thing."

"So, just hanging out, huh?" she pressed.

"Just hanging out with another female 'friend.'"

"Really, Der-bear? Are you sure? Cuz last time I checked, I didn't kiss you when I told you goodbye this morning." Casey internally winced at how jealous sounding that last part came out. Why was this such a big deal to her? Wasn't she just planning on inviting Brandon over? Why did it matter that Derek had Kendra here? But Casey didn't have time to continue mulling the questions over in her head because she suddenly got her answer.

"Okay fine! We decided to try going out again." Derek didn't understand why he'd been so reluctant to tell her or why, now that he had, he felt kind of horrible about it. Like he was doing something wrong.

"Case?" Derek called out when his announcement got no response.

The sound of his voice seemed to shake her out of her shock. Though, she wondered why it was such a surprise when she saw her kiss him just ten minutes ago. She stood suddenly.

"I have to take a shower," she said decidedly as she took a few steps towards the stairs.

"Wait, Casey, what about dinner?" Derek called after her.

"Sorry, I can't. Ummm…I actually have plans with Brandon. I totally forgot. I'll talk to you later," she said as she practically ran up the stairs. She quickly shut the door behind her and slid slowly to the ground. _What just happened?_ she asked herself. Casey forced herself to breathe. Something wasn't right. The feeling of her stomach dropping the moment she saw Kendra open the door. The tightness in her chest she felt the moment Derek admitted he was seeing her again. The sheer panic and urge to run to her room the moment she realized Derek might know what she was feeling.

And _what_ was she feeling? Casey felt something wet run down her face. She quickly reached up to catch it and in that moment the truth hit her. The truth she'd been hiding from herself for quite some time now. She knew exactly what was happening.

"Oh no," she whispered into the emptiness of her room. She was falling for Derek. She pulled herself up and quickly reached for the phone. She had to fix this.

Fast.

* * *

It took Derek exactly one minute to realize he should probably go after Casey and talk to her. He knew he was no genius but even he could figure out that things between him and Casey were getting complicated. More complicated than he was prepared to deal with. And because he was jealous and petty, he had just made it more complicated by adding Kendra into the mix.

He let out a groan as he forced himself to get up. This was exactly why he went out with girls like Kendra instead of girls like Casey. Hell, this was why any girls he was even remotely friends with before Casey were all like Kendra. With girls like Kendra, it was easy. It was always easy. He didn't have to try very hard to make them happy or analyze anything too much to know what they were thinking. They weren't necessarily stupid, just easy to deal with. And he liked that. The fewer complications in his life the better.

But then there was Casey. And with Casey, things were always complicated. And lately, it just seemed to be getting worse. Derek reluctantly trudged up the stairs and paused hesitantly at her door.

"Hey, Case?" He waited for an answer then considered knocking on the door. He lifted a hand then paused when he realized he could hear her talking to someone. He figured it was Emily or Sally and was prepared to interrupt anyway when he heard her say a name that brought his blood to an immediate boil. Brandon.

He quickly pressed his ear to the door and strained to hear what she was saying.

"Hey Brandon, it's Casey…..I'm good, you? ….Hey, I was wondering if you were free tonight? Want to grab dinner? Maybe a movie? ...Sounds good, I'll see you in an hour."

She'd lied to him. Derek wasn't so concerned about the lying part. With much coaxing and coaching from him, she'd been doing it more lately. What hurt was that she'd done it to get away from him and that she'd actually done it pretty well. Not that he'd believed her. But he'd wanted to.

Derek pushed away from the door and quickly moved to his own room, slamming the door behind him. He didn't feel like talking to her anymore.

_July 19__th_

A ringing phone woke Casey up from her nap. She'd had the day off and started it with a breakfast picnic with Brandon followed by a trip to the museum, lunch prepared at his house, and a stroll in the park. By three in the afternoon, Casey was a little tired and Brandon had a football game planned with some of his old friends.

Casey reached blindly for the phone, pressed talk and was surprised to hear the dial tone. She shook her head clear of sleep and realized it was her cell phone ringing. She spotted it on her night stand and looked at the caller ID display.

"Hey, Sally," she greeted the caller.

"Casey! I'm so glad I caught you," Sally replied.

"Me too, I haven't had a chance to talk to you much lately."

"Oh I know. I'm so sorry about last time. I was at this party and it was so loud I couldn't hear a word you were saying."

"Don't worry about it," Casey assured her. "It wasn't a big deal."

"No?" Sally asked. There was an added lilt in her voice. "Derek tells me you met a boy."

"What? He told you that?" Casey was wide awake now.

"Was he wrong?" Sally had a way of asking questions that made you want to answer them. Not for the first time, Casey noticed that Sally had quite a lot in common with Derek.

"No, I did meet someone."

"But you don't like him?"

"No!"

"No?"

"No. I mean, no you're wrong. I do like him. A lot actually. That's the problem," Casey admitted.

"Because you like someone else more." This time, it wasn't a question.

"How did you know that?" Casey asked.

"It's a gift….so, when are you going to tell Derek you like him?"

"What? Sally, I don't like Derek," Casey rushes out.

"Of course you do. Now, do you want to spend the next hour denying it or can we get down to the good parts already?"

And just like that, Casey spent the next ninety minutes spilling her heart out to Derek's ex-girlfriend.

"I'm sorry, Casey," Sally told her sadly. "I can't tell you what to do. Brandon sounds like a really amazing guy. But, and I might be biased here, Derek really was a great boyfriend."

"This must be so weird for you."

"Not any weirder than it must be for you. Oh, gosh, I have to go. Look, call me anytime you need to talk and you have to promise to let me know what happens, okay?"

"Of course, I'll tell you all about it." Casey paused. "You know, once I decide what to do."

"I'm sure you'll make the right choice. Oh, and please don't tell Derek I told you about Ian. He made me promise not to say anything. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Sure, I'll talk to you later. Bye."

Casey hung up and rolled over onto her back to stare at the ceiling. "This is a disaster."

"What's a disaster?"

Casey let out a gasp and struggled to sit up. "Derek?"

"Expecting someone else?" He gave a small smirk as he leaned against the doorframe. She hadn't even realized he'd opened the door. Worried about how much, if anything, he'd overheard, she decided to simply ask him.

"How long have you been standing there?"

"I just opened the door."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Why? Were you talking about me?" Derek narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

Casey made sure he saw her roll her eyes. "Please, I have better things to do than talk about you."

"So, I was going to get some ice cream. Want to come with?" he asked, changing the topic entirely. Casey took in his appearance. His hands were fidgeting nervously in his pockets while his face gave off that nonchalant, I could care less expression, she knew him well enough to know every once in a while when he was faking. Today, he was faking. He was giving her an out on their….well, she wasn't exactly sure what last night was. It was like a fight, just without the actual fighting. Casey came to a decision in that moment. She was going to put her ridiculous crush on Derek to the side and just wait until it went away. She had Brandon and Derek had Kendra and that was that.

"Sure. Let me grab me grab my purse and I'll meet you downstairs?" She put on what she hoped passed for a happy grin on her face and catches him waver for exactly a moment before a similar smile on his face.

"Cool, see you in a bit."

She held her position on the bed until she heard his footsteps on the stairs before she allowed herself to fall onto her back and exhaled. She wondered briefly how long she'd have to fight the urge to cry every time she thought about him giving that smile to another person.

* * *

"Hey, what flavor did you get again?" Derek asked her as they strolled down the emptying streets. It was warm out but since it was getting closer to eight on a Wednesday night, not much was going and people were mostly heading home. Casey had suggested they take a walk since it was nice out and since she had a feeling Derek had something on his chest he wanted to talk about. Thankfully, she suspected it had nothing to do with last night and everything to do with what Sally had told her on the phone.

"Chocolate and caramel. You?" She kept her tone even and figured he'd eventually get around to telling her.

"I think this is pistachio." He took another lick of his ice cream and let her see him grimace. "I didn't read the label and saw green and assumed it was mint chip."

"Too bad you don't like pistachio, huh?" Derek threw her a look that said he knew she was enjoying his misery. So much had changed between them that it was a relief to know that some things never would.

Casey took a slow, deliberate lick of her ice cream. She made sure he saw just how much she enjoyed the smooth, chocolatey, caramely flavor.

"Mmmm, this is delicious. I love how the chocolate blends in perfectly with the taste of caramel. There are even little caramel swirls," Casey explained. She had to fight to keep the smirk off her face.

"You know what? That's it." Derek stopped in his tracks and pulled her off to the side.

"Derek, what are you doing?" Before Casey could finish protesting, Derek had yanked her ice cream cone out of her hand and had practically shoved his at her before taking off in a sprint.

"DER-EK! Get back here!"

It took Casey two and a half blocks to catch up to him but by then her ice cream was long gone and Derek couldn't stop laughing.

"Hahahahha! You should have seen your face. Priceless!" Derek was doubled over and Casey was seething.

"Ha ha. Very funny. I can't believe how immature you are."

"Aww, come on. Lighten up, Space Case. It's just ice cream," he told her as he straightened up and pulled himself together.

"Ice cream that I wanted to eat. And…and you're the one who invited me!"

"You can eat that one." He gestured to the now crushed cone she was holding in her hand. Pistachio ice cream was melting and was now starting to drip onto her fingers and palm. "You might want to eat it fast too cuz it's starting to melt."

"You eat it!" She held out the offending cone to him.

"Casey, I just had one. I'm not a pig." He spotted the rather large, green, stain on her light yellow t-shirt. "But apparently one of us is. Gosh, Case, did you get any in your mouth?"

Casey followed his gaze to the stain on her new shirt. And for the first time in a while, she saw red. "I'm going to kill you!"

Casey lunged, ice cream cone first at Derek's mid section. He hadn't anticipated her to move so quickly so she landed a clear shot at his gut, smearing a large glop of ice cream all over the front of his shirt.

"I'm so going to get you for that," he warned her as he scooped up some ice cream from his shirt and aimed. She dodged his first attack but the second landed squarely on the back of her hair.

"Derek, that's my hair," she screeched as she hurled what remained of the cone in her hand and hit him on the side of the face. He grabbed one of her arms as the other reached up to smear the ice cream all over the rest of his right cheek.

"Casey, stop!" He put as much venom into the command as he could but he failed to keep out the amusement.

"Never. You stop," she returned.

"Why should I? I'm winning."

"You wish. I'm not the one with ice cream on my face." She flashed him a superior grin.

"Oh yeah?" he challenged and before she figured out his intention, he was rubbing his wet, cold, sticky face all over her left cheek.

"Eww! Oh my God, stop! Derek! Ahhhh, get off me. Derek! DEREK! DER-REK!"

But even as she struggled and screamed at him to stop, Casey had to admit it was nice pretending everything between them was back to normal. Even if it was just pretend.

* * *

They were sitting on a bench in front of a store that sold antique gowns and costume jewelry. The store had closed over an hour ago but the lights in front of the store were on. The few remaining people that passed by gave them a wide berth. Normally Casey would be offended but given the fact that they were covered in ice cream, looked visibly sticky, their hair was a mess, and there were large green stains all over their clothing, Casey couldn't fault them.

"I hope you know you're walking home. There's no way you're getting in The Prince like that," Derek declared.

"You're worse than I am. I so won."

"In your dreams, Spacey." Casey let them sit in silence a few minutes more before she decided it was time to prod him along.

"So, are you going to tell me any time soon?"

"Tell you?" His voice took on a strangely higher pitch than normal.

"Yeah cuz we can't sit out here all night."

Derek was surprised. Usually Casey could beat around the bush all day. He swallowed hard.

"Case, I don't know." Derek struggled hard to find the right words. "I was not expecting this so I don't really know how I feel about it all."

"It's okay, Derek. No one could have seen that coming," she told him honestly.

"I just…you know, I just don't know what to say. I don't know what we should do. Probably nothing but…that doesn't seem right either."

"Derek, of course we can't do 'nothing.' We have to deal with this."

Derek groaned. "I knew you were going to say that."

"Of course I'm saying that. Ignoring the problem won't fix it."

"But Casey, seriously how would we even fix it?"

"There are lots of ways to fix it."

"Yeah? What about Brandon? Or Kendra?"

"What do you mean? Why would Brandon have a problem with it? Or Kendra? She wouldn't want you to fail."

"She wouldn't want me to fail?" he parroted.

"Of course not. You need those classes to graduate. She wouldn't stand in the way of that. And for that matter, why would Brandon?"

"Wait…what? What are you talking about?"

"I'm offering to tutor you? Because Sally told me Ian quit?" She looked at him like he was crazy. "Why? What are you talking about?"

"Ummm…same." He was looking anywhere but at her and she quickly realized exactly what he'd been talking about. This was the moment, Casey thought. She could force the issue and possibly ruin their relationship, her relationship with Brandon, and her relationship with Kendra (whose friendship, she had to admit, she was really starting to care about). Or she could give him an out like he'd done just a couple hours ago.

Casey decided she had to stick with the decision she'd made earlier. She and Derek were finally getting along. Why ruin it now with something that could never possibly last? Right?

"So, why didn't you tell me Ian quit?"

"Oh, umm…I don't know." Casey noted the surprise in his voice. "I figured it was my problem, I'd deal with."

"Derek, we're friends now, right?" She forced herself to add the next part as a reminder for the both of them. "Plus you're my stepbrother. Of course I want to help you."

"Right. I'm your stepbrother." For the thousandth time that day, Derek found himself wondering why things with Casey had to be so difficult.

* * *

_I know! These chapters are getting ridiculously long. And I know Derek's summer classes are taking way longer than normal but I've decided I'm allowed some artistic license with their length since A) It's important to the story and B) They're almost over! _

_As always reviews are greatly appreciated!_

_~ SugarRune_


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